Crawfish

Since I am starting to see a few smaller crawdaddys in the water now here and there thought I would ask around about everybody's favorite imitation of these little fellas. Since these patterns are typically fished on or near the bottom, interest here centers on patterns that are inexpensive and easy to tie.
For a while I was using furry foam for pincers because it looks so good in the water but, it soaks up so much water even the small flies I tied for my six weight started to become a real chore to cast. Other than feathers what do you prefer? Red fox squirrel tail or sparse bucktail is the best sub I can find so far. For a minute i was considering using closed cell foam and marking it up appropriately but not sure about that. What do you guys think?

Man, everyone must be fishing. I'm going fishing.

There are plenty of good Crawfish patterns out there. The Claw-dad from Kreel Tackle is the best all around that I know of. (google Kreel Tackle and you will find it)

For very small crawfish (size 8 to 10) the Clouser Crayfish with turkey quill carapace is hard to beat.

Hi all, been reading this site and the new flyflishing board just never post. Anyway, Joe Cornwell, Fly Fish Ohio.com has a youtube video on tying the claw dad. It's a quick and easy fly and, he says, a good one. He also shows a variation for the leech and helgrammite.

[QUOTE=colonelmeyer;416502]Since I am starting to see a few smaller crawdaddys in the water now here and there thought I would ask around about everybody's favorite imitation of these little fellas. Since these patterns are typically fished on or near the bottom, interest here centers on patterns that are inexpensive and easy to tie.
For a while I was using furry foam for pincers because it looks so good in the water but, it soaks up so much water even the small flies I tied for my six weight started to become a real chore to cast. Other than feathers what do you prefer? Red fox squirrel tail or sparse bucktail is the best sub I can find so far. For a minute i was considering using closed cell foam and marking it up appropriately but not sure about that. What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]

Got some of these and they are Killer! Check them out...

[URL]http://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=display&target=JF315[/URL]

-Rich

Very nice. Thanks fellas.