Favorite Crayfish Pattern?

[Esoxbum]

when i bothered to tie a crayfish patterns it was basically a modified bugger. Lead eyes positioned so the hook rides upward. and I separated the tail in two with wraps and put a little flex-i- ment on my finger tips to pinch the ends of the two tails and draw them together.

kind of like this but just marabou instead of zonker strips. But i like that idea. View attachment 1641252329

💡!

 

[Esoxbum]

💡!

Now how did’t I think of that….

 

[Esoxbum]

Do you guys use those big buggers for carp too?

I’ve never caught a carp on anything other than dough, when I was like 12 (35yrs ago)

 

[Esoxbum]

Do trout regularly eat crayfish ? Last summer wadding a section of the lil j I spooked so many with every step I almost thought there were to many and i believe they were rusty crayfish. When targeting trout when would a big clouser style be effective ? I have never had confidence to fish them for trout .

No help here. I’ve never used one for trout either. If I had to take a stab at it I would say in high, stained water for browns would be great time to try (Hell, when they can’t see what you’re offering you could try a small stray cat for that matter). Stained as in the process of clearing up, not getting worse…

 

[Esoxbum]

when i bothered to tie a crayfish patterns it was basically a modified bugger. Lead eyes positioned so the hook rides upward. and I separated the tail in two with wraps and put a little flex-i- ment on my finger tips to pinch the ends of the two tails and draw them together.

kind of like this but just marabou instead of zonker strips. But i like that idea. View attachment 1641252329

So, I noticed your profile pic. You’re a fan of both the PENS and flyers?

 

[Bamboozle]

Do trout regularly eat crayfish ? Last summer wadding a section of the lil j I spooked so many with every step I almost thought there were to many and i believe they were rusty crayfish. When targeting trout when would a big clouser style be effective ? I have never had confidence to fish them for trout .

Many moons ago at the Letort at night, I caught a BEAST of a brown trout (maybe 24") with another homemade crayfish pattern whose location was tipped to me by Charlie Fox.

This crayfish pattern was developed before the days of Furry Foam and Kreel Klaws so I made a pattern that included the tail, carapace & claws and cut it out of a VERY thin chamois eyeglass cleaning cloth. I hand colored it using permanent markers.

The body was weighted with lead because there were no dumbbell eyes at the time with chenille over that and hackle for legs. Melted heavy mono colored black sufficed for eyes. I used a regular streamer hook, possibly a size 10 or 12 but the fly was MAYBE 2" long including the claws.

I made exactly ONE of those crayfish because they took awhile, especially back in those days, I still have it but to date, I caught exactly one trout on that fly, that big Letort brown...

 

[tomgamber]

So, I noticed your profile pic. You’re a fan of both the PENS and flyers?

Is that what you see?

 

[Shawn_H]

Is that you Shawn Hayes?

Ha. No darn close though. My name is Shawn Helman

 

[JG63]

Do trout regularly eat crayfish ? Last summer wadding a section of the lil j I spooked so many with every step I almost thought there were to many and i believe they were rusty crayfish. When targeting trout when would a big clouser style be effective ? I have never had confidence to fish them for trout .

Trout love native Crayfish - but the Rusty … not so much

 

[JG63]

Back when I could get 60mm Estaz the Conehead Bugger was a go to - the middle fly is a balanced Olive Schlappen bugger (see the jig hook?) with LOTS of movement on a rapid retrieve, and when I was using Flymen products that lazer cut crawdad ultra suede thingy worked pretty well

 

[sandflyx]

I tie between 6-10 dozen a year for my shop. Allegheny crawfish size 1. Both trout and bass hit it hard.

 

[Esoxbum]

Is that what you see?

I guess I didn’t look hard enough 👎🏿

 

[lars]

doing pretty well on these the last couple seasons - Chuck Kraft's clawdad

i like whitlock's nearnuff too

 

[sandflyx]

here is my pattern

 

[Sylvaneous]

Dear Esoxbum,

If you want something other than the suggested bead head wooly bugger, which is a wonderful fly to dead drift, the simplest thing to do is buy a pack of rubber crayfish and some bare long shank # 4 or 6 hooks. Most of the popular crayfish patterns are far too complicated to tie or expensive to buy. A rubber crayfish and hook with a split shot on the leader will out fish them anyway. If you are using a 7 or 8 weight rod you can even fish them using a 1/16 ounce jig head.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

Love you said this, Tim. I have some really accurate tiny, maybe 1 1/2 inch "rubber" crayfish I got from Bass Pro many years ago. I fish them as a back-up if I get a follower when I'm spin fishing or to run through a deep run or hole. I fish them on a 1/16 or 1/32 oz (whatever it is) jig head. A decent tiny draw immitating fly that I think is something different than a small deviation from a regular streamer is a time-consuming task.
Syl

 

[TimMurphy]

Love you said this, Tim. I have some really accurate tiny, maybe 1 1/2 inch "rubber" crayfish I got from Bass Pro many years ago. I fish them as a back-up if I get a follower when I'm spin fishing or to run through a deep run or hole. I fish them on a 1/16 or 1/32 oz (whatever it is) jig head. A decent tiny draw immitating fly that I think is something different than a small deviation from a regular streamer is a time-consuming task.
Syl

Dear Syl,

It's almost just another version of Euro-nymphing, heyna? 😉

As I have aged, I've decided to fish smarter and not harder. Some may say that's the lazy way, but in time they will understand.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂