Crawfish

[jkhorton1971 0]

I have watched a couple of videos of crawfish flies and when the fly is tied, it is tied so that the fly is to be fished hookup. But the way it is tied they always with the "back" (scud or plastic) always tied on the back of the hook shank, so this will cause the fly to "swim" up-side down. This is not the way a "natural" crawfish "swims". Can anyone explain this to me. Thx.

[netabrookie 0]

jkhorton1971, I have wondered about the same thing myself. I have thought about this and tied them so they would look correct to the fish, but it is a big pain in the rear to do so. The small mouth in the New River don't seem to mind the fly being upside down, but it bugs me to think about it. Maybe if someone gives you a good answer to your question then I will have the mystery solved for myself also...Take Care, Tony

[phg 0]

Good question. I think the flies are tied primarily to catch fishermen....

 

Bob Couser Jr. ties a really nice crayfish pattern, but I don't know how well it fishes. I prefer my crayfish patterns to fish point up too. A lot less snags on rocks that way.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Well, there are 2 ways to fish a crayfish pattern. First is on the bottom, crawling it along as a real cray would do. The second is as it's being swept down stream by the current, much like fishing a nymph, in which case it will turn over & sometimes be upside down. This is not unnatural looking, because in a strong enough current, the flow has enough strength to push the cray around, even though they try to swim. All depends on where you're fishing them.

 

For my own tying, I've gotten away from trying to replicate cray patterns to look like the real thing, and tie more impressionistic type patterns now. I'm also a long time hair jig angler, a simple lure that works very well imitating crayfish & a lure that has caught many fish over the years. Hair jigs also have that "in the round" look to them, so from most any angle they still look the same, much like a Woolly Bugger.

 

I've also used with great success, various simple "flats" type flies popular for imitating shrimp or crabs in saltwater. Crazy Charlies, Gotcha's, & Squimps all have worked just fine in streams as crayfish patterns, primarily for Smallmouth bass. Many of the popular Carp flies are likewise modeled after this type of fly, and mimic crayfish as well.

 

Since none of these necessarily look like a real crayfish, at least in how we view them & often tie them, yet they still have worked well for me, I see no real need for enhanced patterns, that include antenna, shell backs or pairs of claws. In fact, if you watch a real crawfish scurrying along the bottom, most of these features we add become blended into a single form anyway.

 

I tie "crayfish" in the form of Clousers with such materials as fox or coyote hair, and sometimes with rabbit strips, and I'll tie the above mentioned saltwater flats type flies, but in colors that more or less reflect crayfish colors where I'm fishing. These types of flies all ride with the hook point up, and snag less as phg has said, plus no matter which way they get turned, they still look & act somewhat like a crayfish & get eaten.

 

Here's the types of flies I use:

 

 

Hair jigs: See the resemblance?

[Steve P 0]

I'm 6 of one and a half dozen of the other most times. I ocassionally fish impressionistic patterns like various flats fodder for carp but also will go with a more realistic cray fly as well. Here is a fly that I picked up here on FTF. And then adapted slightly to my own appeal.

 

 

Steve