Esoxbum
Active member
What is everyone’s favorite crawdaddy patties to catch the fatties?
Favorite Crayfish Pattern?
- Thread starter Esoxbum
- Start date
tomgamber
Well-known member
Bead head bugger. tan, brown and olive.
TimMurphy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 4,449
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 🙂
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 🙂
tomgamber
Well-known member
I think they call those "lures". 😉
Shawn_H
Well-known member
Big fan of Jake’s crawl daddy - but that’s for smallmouth. Can’t say I’ve really tried for trout with it. Might need to downsize it substantially but who knows.
For trout I agree with the bugger suggestion.
For trout I agree with the bugger suggestion.
TimMurphy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 4,449
Dear tom,
That's only the people who call Clouser Minnows jigs that do that! 😉
They are all lures, heyna?
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
tomgamber
Well-known member
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.
kind of like this but just marabou instead of zonker strips. But i like that idea.
TroutHunter814
Active member
Do you guys use those big buggers for carp too?
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
my favorite is a clouser crayfish, but I'll be honest, I mostly tie and fish rusty colored buggers and something very similar to Tom's above with the rabbit strips
Bamboozle
Well-known member
I tie a simple pattern I created using Fury Foam for the carapace & tail, Eztaz or chenille for the body, thread or wire ribbing, hackle for the legs, Spirit River I-Balz dumbell eyes and what used to be called Kreel Klaws for the claws.
The Kreel Klaws are a game changer for me because they make adding claws a super-simple two step/one minute process. I bought a lifetime supply of the original Kreel Klaw product many moons ago from Herb Weigl at the old Cold Spring Anglers in Carlisle.
However, the original product has a small hole punched in the attachment point to slip over the hook point before securing with thread for a more secure connection with less thread wraps.
If I was buying a new supply, I'd be inclined to add my own hole with a leather punch.
The Kreel Klaws are a game changer for me because they make adding claws a super-simple two step/one minute process. I bought a lifetime supply of the original Kreel Klaw product many moons ago from Herb Weigl at the old Cold Spring Anglers in Carlisle.
However, the original product has a small hole punched in the attachment point to slip over the hook point before securing with thread for a more secure connection with less thread wraps.
If I was buying a new supply, I'd be inclined to add my own hole with a leather punch.
Terry Murphy
Well-known member
Having good luck with the Swiss Straw Craw this year . Precision has a video on YouTube.
I tie a way simpler version of an HD Craw. It’s tied with a bead and a cray tail on the bottom so the hook rides up. I always use rabbit or squirrel zonker strips for the claws because I think they flutter the best as I typically fish it as a drop bait mire then a drag across the bottom bait. The zonkers do need some deer hair tied between them to keep them pushed out and separated. Not a difficult or overly time consuming tie. Sometimes I put a thin skin back and sometimes I don’t since I rely solely on the fluttering zonkers on the drop.
Clouser crayfish. It's the only real crayfish fly I've ever found to be worth using over a regular bugger.
TimMurphy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 4,449
Dear jifigz,
Until you lose it to a (*&^%%$#$##%$%$% rock! 😉
Just dead drift a rubber crayfish and be done with it!
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
Streammagic237
Well-known member
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 .
TimMurphy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 4,449
Dear Streammagic,
Every fish that swims will eat a crayfish. How many and how often they do it depends on their size and aggressiveness. I've caught smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna that had thick scarred rubbery lips from banging their heads into rocks root hogging for crayfish. Larger trout, especially brown trout, will do the same thing.
Fish get by however they can get by. If you want to try crayfish patterns for trout start with smaller size 10 or 12's. If you catch fish but they are dinks, try a size 2 or 4.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
goose54cdd
Active member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2021
- Messages
- 549
This a great idea for a crayfish. Do you have a pattern? I'm sure I can get close, but a pattern always helps. I'm floating for smallies on Monday.
Esoxbum
Active member
I out right refuse to pay $5 for anything other than a musky ‘fly’. Been experimenting on the vice for a new craw
Esoxbum
Active member
Is that you Shawn Hayes?
