My previous post went into a brief discussion of tying and fishing one of my favorite streamers, the leech. There are days, however, when fishing a piece of water that I’ve covered several times before, that I feel the need to throw them something different. More times than not that choice is a crayfish.

When I was younger, several decades ago, I would harvest my share of adult trout. Checking stomach content it was easy to see that crayfish were at the top of the menu. I remember well, one opening day, a Brown pushing twenty inches that was stuffed with sixteen crayfish. Always present, it is a pattern I should fish more than I do.

Upon observation of crayfish in a fish tank it was easy to see that there were two body parts that never stopped moving- their legs and claws. That movement was what I needed to create.

Starting with that simple leech, all I needed to do was add a hackle to represent the moving legs and wire or monofilament ribbing to add segmentation (the rib being optional, I just think it looks good). After weighting the shank with lead, I add the marabou tail to represent the claws. After a few wraps of shaggy dubbing to represent the head, I tie in the Hackle and rib. Proceed with a couple more wraps of dubbing, palmer the hackle a few times towards the eye of the hook, and tie off. Dub the thread and palmer to cover the rest of the shank. Rib the body and complete the fly. 

My main color of crayfish is gray which will turn darker when wet. I also tie one in the same olive brown shade that I use in my leeches. Although I carry crayfish in a couple of different sizes, I tend to do better when I stick to the smaller #10 2XL. My fishing techniques are similar to the ways I fish leeches. I will bounce them off the bottom with the aid of a split shot attached to the tippet. In slower water I will slide them along the bottom with slow, short strips. And when all else fails I will swing them through all types of water.

Bottom line, crayfish are always on the menu. They’re available throughout the year in all sizes and many color variations. They’re simply a meal that trout cannot resist.

Carry on.