Crayfish

[Stoney Creek]

Hey guys. While in Oregon in the summer I was fooling around with the idea that fish might like eating small crayfish. Couldn't find a recipe so I decided to just go at er and come up with my own design. Not only did this design work on rainbows, atlantics and brookies down there, it slayed fish on some of the pickiest rivers around. The fish were after it big time.

Came back home and started using it on the mainland and island. Every single river I tossed it into, even on the picky days, was hammering trout. Rainbows absolutely loved it and if there was a cutty around at all it was on the hook, even caught a couple multiple times before leaving the pool.

What's even more interesting is I commonly didn't weigh the small fly and would fish it as a dry fly. Cast right along the far bank and skate it across as fast as it could go, with little pauses of about a second two or three times. I had cutties come up from 8 feet or more at the bottom of pools to destroy the fly doing this... it now has me thinking it may work for summer runs (have also heard winter runs will take a crayfish pattern).

So now I've made the super-sized version, around 2 inches long. Here it is:


Let me know what ya guys think,
Cheers,
Dan

[herkileez]

Let me know what ya guys think,Cheers,Dan

I think it looks pretty good.....of course, now we're gonna need to see the pattern.....

[Zane]

We really need a recipe.

[bronjuan]

Hey guys. While in Oregon in the summer I was fooling around with the idea that fish might like eating small crayfish. Couldn't find a recipe so I decided to just go at er and come up with my own design. Not only did this design work on rainbows, atlantics and brookies down there, it slayed fish on some of the pickiest rivers around. The fish were after it big time.

Came back home and started using it on the mainland and island. Every single river I tossed it into, even on the picky days, was hammering trout. Rainbows absolutely loved it and if there was a cutty around at all it was on the hook, even caught a couple multiple times before leaving the pool.

What's even more interesting is I commonly didn't weigh the small fly and would fish it as a dry fly. Cast right along the far bank and skate it across as fast as it could go, with little pauses of about a second two or three times. I had cutties come up from 8 feet or more at the bottom of pools to destroy the fly doing this... it now has me thinking it may work for summer runs (have also heard winter runs will take a crayfish pattern).

So now I've made the super-sized version, around 2 inches long. Here it is:


Let me know what ya guys think,
Cheers,
Dan

Whatcha say now????

[Stoney Creek]

Whatcha say now????

It was is Oregon.
They have a lake called Hosmer Lake close to Bend Oregon.
It's the only place in the US where they stocked Atlantic's and they took and became feral populations.
I believe they still stock it with them, the lake also has huge brook trout!

The travelling caddis hatch in the evening was absolutely insane.
Fish would go after anything remotely similar and you could get double digits easy within the last hour of dusk.



And here's a decent rainbow on the original from Oregon...


Will post recipe after my test Tuesday... already spent too much time on here rather than studying hahahaha
Cheers,
Dan

[btree]

I think the recipie is apparent from the origional picture All the main materials are in the pic. Nice work there Dan. PM me about your fishing plans over the holidays and in the new year. I'm getting a bit stir crazy waiting for November to end and steelheading to properly begin!

[herkileez]

I think the recipie is apparent from the origional picture All the main materials are in the pic. Nice work there Dan. PM me about your fishing plans over the holidays and in the new year. I'm getting a bit stir crazy waiting for November to end and steelheading to properly begin!

No No.....Let the man speak...Lookin forward to Tuesday, Dan....

[Stoney Creek]

Ok guys, as promised.

Big crawdaddy-

Hook: Tiemco TMC 300 (size 4, 6X long)
Thread: Dark Brown
Body: Can be dubbing like I used, rabbit trimmed or spun deer hair trimmed
Legs/Antennae: rubber legs
Claws: Tied Pheasant Tail
Eyes: Black medium mono filament
Back: Dyed deer hair (body hair, although I think buck tail would be better and easier to work with).
Tail: Large hackle in brown/reddish brown
Ribbing: Fine Copper Ribbing Wire
Weight: lead wire wrap under body (if wanted)

1) Wrap a good thread base. This is the point whether you will decide if you want it to be a dry or wet fly. I have had very good success with viscous takes as a dry with rainbows and cutties, so might be worth a try.

2) If you want it as a wet fly, wrap lead wire on entire hook shank all the way down to the back.

3) Go back to bend, and tie in the pheasant tail tied off claws.

4) Again, depending on dry or wet fly you choose body. If you want a wet fly, tie in the legs first and the wrap over them with dubbing to get the desired body shape and size you want. If you're doing a dry fly, spin deer hair around to about where you want the body to end. Do a quick knot and trim the deer hair to the body shape and size you want.

5) Go back to the top end of the fly now. Tie in the eyes half way down the body on the top. Then go right to the front of the fly and tie in the deer hair back, I like to leave some tapered ends sticking out to look like mouth parts. If this is a dry fly, at this point you wrap back forward through the deer hair and tie in legs at 3 diff spots on the bottom.

6) Go to the back end of the body and tie in an appropriate piece of copper wire. Over top of the wire, tie in the end of your hackle and then wrap the thread back to the eye of the hook. Wrap the hackle forward in very tight wraps, it's aloud to be messy and stick out different ways, it helps fill the bottom better. Tie the hackle down at the back.

7) Push the hackles down so they are all pointing down wards. Pull the deer hair down over the back and hold it firm at the back of the pattern. Tightly (while tightly holding the deer hair) wrap the wire forward. Try your best to not catch and bring the hackle up the sides, you want the hackle to look segmented too.

8) Once the wire is at the back end, tie everything down fairly firm and do a couple whip finish knots. After this you will need to take the fly off the vice and trim the hackle in a taper, longer towards the front and shorter towards the back. Get the taper you want. After this, I would recommend (especially on the bigger pattern) to coat the deer hair back with some type of epoxy or head finisher. It will probably help to keep it in tact a bit longer.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. I'll post when I have time.

Will post a pic of my dry fly one later, not even 100% sure if it will float. If not it should be just sub surface. Trying the spun deer hair body for the first time to float it, although it is a heavy hook. Back is just drying on it now...

Cheers,
Dan

[herkileez]

Thanks for posting this Dan....Looking forward to trying it !!

[Zane]

Thanks for the recipe.