crayfish material

[captaincondor 0]

Hey I know there are lots of patterns out there to tie crayfish but i am new to tying and i have to admit i searchout the easiest least complicated looking pattern. Ie if there is one pattern that looks easier than another but will achieve the same result well i am all over it. My question though is what do you think the material is on the claws of this crayfish. Also if you have any other suggestions for claws that are easy tying. I am thinking the top is pheasant tail, the underside of the body hares guard, the top turkey feathers just not sure about the claws.

 

its off ebay so don't make fun

http://cgi.ebay.ca/6-x-CRAYFISH-CARP-BARBE...1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks

Connor

[Faster Fish 0]

A pattern called "skip's dad" works well and is easy to tie.

 

http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/my-favorite-dad/

[oatka 0]

I wear an Orvis (yes, I said Orvis and I'm not taking it back) crayfish on my hat. It's on my hat because the darn thing twisted everytime I tried to cast it. But, everytime I see crayfish patterns I think I need to tie up some of my own. I've never tied my own crayfish.

[captaincondor 0]

spot on thanks very much

 

I am gonna giver her a go this afternoon

 

[flyfishingtaz 0]

I love that my favorite dad. It's very easy to tie, and not hard at all to teach a beginner. My girlfriends picking it up quite quickly.

[captaincondor 0]

This may be a dumb question but since I am new to fly fishing and tying I am going to ask it anyway. I see that they have tied the crayfish with the tail end at the hook eye. I am just curious would this not give the illusion that the crayfish is going backwards in the water. If you are using it in still water would you not be stripping it in and then if thats the case backwards, and down a river, once again backwards. Not sure if the fish are that picky but could someone shed some lighton it for me pelase and thank you

Connor

[Michael Smith 0]

That skip looks nice and it seems like an easy one to tie as well. Here is another one to try. It's Ray Schmidt's marabou crawfish:

 

HOOK: Daiichi 1710 size 4

THREAD: (Hard Shell) 3/0 olive mono cord

(Soft Shell) 3/0 white mono cord

WEIGHT: Presentation lead barbell eyes

CLAWS: (Hard Shell) Olive and brown marabou

(Soft Shell) white, pink, and orange marabou

SHELLBACK: (Hard Shell) Brown Swiss Straw

(Soft Shell) Copper Swiss Straw

RIB: Copper wire

BODY: (Hard Shell) Olive medium chenille

(Soft Shell) white medium chenille for Soft Shell

HACKLE: (Hard Shell) olive saddle

(Soft Shell) white saddle

GLUE: Flexament

 

It's tied on the hook upside down. The marabou is tied on like two sideways parachute posts to form the claws. I can't wait to try it in Lake Michigan for smallmouth.

 

Mike

[billb 0]

This may be a dumb question but since I am new to fly fishing and tying I am going to ask it anyway. I see that they have tied the crayfish with the tail end at the hook eye. I am just curious would this not give the illusion that the crayfish is going backwards in the water. If you are using it in still water would you not be stripping it in and then if thats the case backwards, and down a river, once again backwards. Not sure if the fish are that picky but could someone shed some lighton it for me pelase and thank you

Connor

 

Connor: That's not a dumb question -- I'm glad you asked it. Crayfish will walk forward on their legs, but when they're in a hurry to escape a predator, they scoot backwards, flipping their tails down as they go.

 

Bill

[mrcaddis 0]

Try Clouser Crawfish, it's a little time consuming but not a difficult tye. This crawfish IMHO fishs well, especially for smallies. I tye them on size 2 4x long hook and for trout size 6 and 8 4x long. I recommend getting Bob Clouser's book or the video he did with Lefty Kreh.

I hope this helps

[flytyer56 0]

conner, I tie and fish a modified clouser crawdad. Like mrcaddis said a little time consuming but I like it. Here's the pattern and recipe I use. It is in photobucket, I hope this works right. There are 2 pages to the recipe check them both out. http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p230/flytyer56/

Also here is a link for a step by step on the Skips Dad. If you can there's a streaming video for windows on here to. http://www.flyfishohio.com/Skip's_Dad.htm

Hope this helps.

[Wiets 0]

CptConner

Further to what Bill says, crayfish do not just scoot backwards when in flight;

 

Crayfish normally walk forward when approaching food, mating or moving from one place to another. They walk forward - they cannot swim forward.

 

They are fully adapt at walking backward and normally do so when entering a hide out, when it's suspicious of something, when a predator approaches and when another crayfish bigger than itself approaches. Depending on it's assesment of the danger, crayfish can rapidly swim backward by flapping the tail under it's body.

 

One can therefor slowly "walk" the fly on the bottom and/or strip in short jerks of 1 to 2 foot as these are all natural movements of the crayfish. The smaller the crayfish fly, the shorter the jerk. When fleeing, crayfish normally flaps it's tail 3 to 5 times in rapid succession. It will do this again and again until it's out of the danger zone or found cover.

 

Wiets

[panfisherteen 0]

the only 1 i kno is real simple.It is simply a modification 2 a woolly bugger.when u are tyin it,simply use 2 pieces of marabou,so that when u wrap the chenelle,u can seperate the 2 pieces and make the illusion of pincers

[dsaavedra 0]

i really like that skips' dad. im gonna tie a bunch up. the only thing is that its really skinny....not sure if i like that.