Crayfish Dilemma

[coinman66 0]

All look like fish catchers to me. Nice stuff!

[ditz2 0]

Rocco ..... I am a sucker for craw patterns. I have several in my box and I am always looking for more especially simple ones. Would you consider posting one like your old buddy used to tie. I would like to add a few to my 'collection'.

 

I also sent a PM in case Rocco does not come back to this thread.

 

Thanks

[Piker20 0]

This is a good thread with lots of great patterns being thrown about. Do you guys feel that its the movement in the zonker strips/animal hairs that induces the fish or do they actually take these for imitative crawfish?

[Chefben4 0]

Nice ties! I agree piker, this is a good thread.

I personally think its the undulation (waviness (i just like using that word lol) of the hair that does some enticing. Certainly the silhouette probably helps as well. Im not so postive that "claws" make the difference in a good fly or not because ive seen and used many crayfish imitations without claws (foxee clouser being one) that work great.

[Chefben4 0]

Nice ties! I agree piker, this is a good thread.

I personally think its the undulation (waviness (i just like using that word lol) of the hair that does some enticing. Certainly the silhouette probably helps as well. Im not so postive that "claws" make the difference in a good fly or not because ive seen and used many crayfish imitations without claws (foxee clouser being one) that work great.

[Chefben4 0]

Nice ties! I agree piker, this is a good thread.

I personally think its the undulation (waviness (i just like using that word lol) of the hair that does some enticing. Certainly the silhouette probably helps as well. Im not so postive that "claws" make the difference in a good fly or not because ive seen and used many crayfish imitations without claws (foxee clouser being one) that work great.

[Piker20 0]

I heard you the first time Ben ;-)

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

LOL Piker20, it is a couple of things like how Ben said 3 times 'silohette', it is going to be a similar size and shape to the prey. Also adding weight like dumbell eyes or leadfree wire is going to get the pattern on the bottom where the crawfish are and give it that darting jiggly motion that drives smallies crazy. On the pause the Furs are still going to give an illusion of life, this is when i find they savage the fly (on the pause).

Watching underwater footage of crazy smallies like on that show 'hook and look' where they scuba dive and see exactly what is going on, the smallies attack is pretty quick, the crawdad is often spat out and rolls around upside down legs flailing and pincers trying to defend, then they go and attack again.

 

It is fascinating stuff, at times of the year smallies will gorge on craws in lakes often ignoring baitfish. Judging by the amount of spat out shells and semi digested crawdad pieces or even whole crawdads i am pretty sure if this happens and you are fishing a craw the fish really does think it is one and food.

 

Was funny this one lake generally has very little water movement, but you go to where a river enters and the current is much swifter, even fast. The smallies in that water were keyed into baitfish instead.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Just to add here is some footage of a craw fly underwater, mute the music as it will hurt. Very suggestive of a crawdad i think?

 

[Piker20 0]

Certainly looks good in the water. Don't know what was wrong with the music, I just sat turning the table lamp on/off on/off and had a little 90s flash back.......I'm sending to outer space, to find another race...........Oh I nearly went again there.

[BassMouth87 0]

Jam: I have found the same this season with foxee clousers. The strike is usually on the pause. That video is amazing, makes me want to use materials that have more motion for the pincers such as marabou or fox tail/fur and other animal furs. I find the squirrel tail is very stiff and has no motion in the water although it does work well on clouser patterns for other reasons I am sure.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Yeah, you know what, with the clawless type crawdads i am almost thinking they might be taking it as a sculpin or goby as it can very easily represent either but who knows!?

 

I had some crawdad errors this year, this one i had to switch the claws to knotted silky fiber as the chenille version spun like a helicopter in the current which was not very crawdad like. Like you have experienced the stiffer materials do suffer.

 

 

Saltwater flies such as the avalon work well but don't look too much like a craw, these work really well in deep water. Actually this year i must turn my Avalon fly into a better crawdad, has potential to work quite well as a craw.

 

[BassMouth87 0]

I really like both of those flies...sadly some creations work better then others.

 

When I first got into tying I was talking to someone at a fly shop and they pulled a fly out of a drawer that looked about as lifelike as a craw comes. He then showed me how stiff the plastic pincers where and said its a pretty fly, but he doubted it would catch fish. He drilled into my head that motion and action in the water is more important 90% of the time when mimicking bait fish and other delectable treats. I have a few more patterns up my sleeve to play with, and will be placing an order tonight for some congo hair and what I assume is there version of silky fibers...we shall see what else I can get into.

 

I am glad this thread has become a sort of catch all of crayfish patterns, I encourage anyone to post patterns and pictures of crayfish imitation flies, the more the merrier!

[troutsmasher 0]

I'm sure this will fudge a few huggies but in the spirit of contribution......I have found that when fish are feeding heavily on crayfish they will hit anything that moves. I throw minnow patterns during these times and a good friend of mine skates divers and we both catch a lot of fish this way. As tyers we feel the need to make the fly look as realistic as possible, but unless you are casting out and letting it sit still on the bottom like bait this is not necessary. Suggestive patterns in my experience will always outfish imitative patterns. Like many I'm sure, I have spent an hour tying a lifelike crayfish only to lose it to a rock before ever sticking a fish on it. Lesson learned. Brown buggers with black dumbbell eyes are a simple tie and effective in a variety of conditions. A friend I fish with also has success with the rabbit strip claw patterns. The point is don't get carried away with the realism if the goal is to catch fish.

[BassMouth87 0]

Here is a pattern I saw in the bin at the local fly shop, was interesting so I took a picture to share with everyone here: