Favorite Crayfish patterns?

[tjsingle]

Lots of cool crayfish patterns on this forum, I need to start fishing with them more than I do now.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Streamers produce tremendous results in clear water.

I feel that this old "streamers are fished when high and muddy" is an ill repeated adage people hear, latch on to, and continue to perpetuate for generations to come.

With that said, you are entitled to your opinion, but I love fishing streamers in clear water.

Totally agree. Streamers can be fished all the time, some of my best days have been clear water streamer days. Off color/higher water usually is a great time to fish streamers, but really any time is.

 

[jifigz]

I concur. Sure I look for elevated, off color water but I don't think its an absolute for bugger success. If anything I might scale down the size in clear water but I don't hesitate to fish them.

I mostly carry buggers in one size and one size only: a 3x or 4x long size 6.

 

[BruceC2C]

Thank you for this post.
Like a lot a things ( recently, egg patterns) ….i never really prioritized choosing crawfish patterns until prepping for my trip to Missoula in August 2023.

Previously, my Woolly Bugger color selection was Black, White, Olive, Chartreuse…
I had tan, ginger, brown, root beer, in my box…just kinda always passed right over them without much thought .

Came across the blog post below from Missoula based fly shop…
figured I needed to do a better job connecting the dots.

Fly Fishing Crawdads in Montana | Crayfish | Missoulian Angler Fly Shop

Fly Fishing Crawdads in Montana, where to fly fish these patterns and helpful tips and tricks that will help you catch more trout.

www.missoulianangler.com

 

[tomgamber]

Thank you for this post.
Like a lot a things ( recently, egg patterns) ….i never really prioritized choosing crawfish patterns until prepping for my trip to Missoula in August 2023.

Previously, my Woolly Bugger color selection was Black, White, Olive, Chartreuse…
I had tan, ginger, brown, root beer, in my box…just kinda always passed right over them without much thought .

Came across the blog post below from Missoula based fly shop…
figured I needed to do a better job connecting the dots.

Fly Fishing Crawdads in Montana | Crayfish | Missoulian Angler Fly Shop

Fly Fishing Crawdads in Montana, where to fly fish these patterns and helpful tips and tricks that will help you catch more trout.

www.missoulianangler.com

In the time between college and Idaho I would tie a yellow bugger and it just killed on the Tully. Have no idea why. Someone told me that the color yellow was effective, I was fairly green at the time and it worked. Used left over few in ID with no success and never tied another yellow.

 

[Mrangler]

I really like Cramer’s claw. Can be a little involved tying but well worth it.

 

[Kyle]

i agree on all about buggers. i always keep black, brown, and olive in my fly box, some with bead heads, some with not. some with crystal flash and some with not.

never thought of tying buggers with barbell eyes or rubber legs. thats a good idea and could be a game changer. i will have to add that to my tying list.

 

[RLeep2]

95%-plus of my crayfish pattern fishing is for smallmouth. I've never found an imitative pattern I've been satisfied with, even the Clouser. The two impressionistic patterns I've done well with are:

1) Holschlag Hackle Fly - http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/patterns6.asp?page=2

2) Bronze Goddess - http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/patterns3.asp?page=33

Both are from Ward Bean's Warmwater Fly Tyer website, which is a pretty good resource for this sort of stuff - http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/welcome.asp

 

[Mike]

For trout fishing, the Wooly Bugger and any other streamer is best fished when the water is up and is somewhat off color, at least chalky. They don't work very well when the water is clear.

Except at night!

 

[Bamboozle]

Another thing, try a dinky Wooley Bugger sometime...

I tied some beadhead versions up on some 2X long nymph hooks in about a size 10 to fish on a Tenkara rod (yea baby, stir the pot ! 😉).

Anyway, they worked so well as a searching pattern I tied up some more and use them on my other fly outfits.