Photo: Jay/Flickr
Where I grew up, we called them crawdads. I’ve heard them called crawfish, but most folks seem to settle on crayfish as the official term for these interesting freshwater lobsters. Regardless of what you call them, crayfish are an important part of the diet for many trout, especially those living in tailwaters. They’re a high-protein food source, and some of my best fishing days last year came when fishing crayfish underneath a big foam hopper.
If you choose to tie your own crayfish, you’ll be in for a bit more time at the vise than you typically spend with mayflies or midges. These are meaty flies, and many of the patterns are often complex.
It can also be challenging to know which crayfish pattern to try, since there are so many of them. That’s where this story, by Stephen May over at Fly Fisherman Magazine, comes into play. He picked the seven best crayfish patterns based on their biology and physical appearance, which is a great place to start. As May notes, “many popular flies are not well designed. Some flies have huge claws coming out of the fly’s head and float or drift with the hook pointed down, ready to snag the first piece of debris it encounters. Despite this, crayfish are such an important food item on many rivers, and fish see so few imitations, that they will hit a mediocre imitation with surprising regularity. Once you start using well-proportioned crayfish patterns, your success will surely increase, and you will always have a few patterns in your fly box ready for action.”
His seven patterns are all ones I probably ought to try, as they’re a bit more anatomically correct than my go-to, which is the Zirdle Bug.
May also details how to fish these patterns, as well. His article is a fantastic resource for learning more about these under-utilized flies, and I highly recommend reading it, especially if you’re tired of tying mayflies, midges, and caddis.
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