As a kid, I grew up hunting for crayfish (and anything else the swam, wiggled, or crawled) in the creeks and drainage ditches of the piney woods north of Houston. Of course, in keeping with local slang, my buddies and I called them “crawdads” and dared each other to let them pinch a finger. My advice: don’t do it. Another popular name for them around here and into East Texas and Louisiana is “mudbug.”
Photo by Greg DeMars
So, having grown up in the Texas Gulf Coast area, I have been eating crawdads most of my life–-which, interestingly, is something that I have in common with bass. Like baitfish patterns, there are dozens of different crawfish fly patterns available. I developed this fly specifically to have a small, fast-sinking crawfish pattern that imitates the forage in the ponds and creeks of North Texas. This pattern will catch just about any predator that swims here, especially bass and large sunfish. And slowly bounced along the bottom, it is also an excellent carp fly.
I like jig hooks for crawfish patterns for the lifelike swimming action they impart to the fly when stripping it through the water, with a sort of underwater hopping motion on each strip. The bass find it irresistible. The lead dumbbell eyes tied in at the jig bend exaggerate this motion, and being opposite the hook point make this fly ride hook point up, which is helpful in reducing snags while keeping this fly close to the bottom, where the crawfish live.
One of the features that I think predators notice in particular are the eyes, which are fairly prominent on this fly, especially underwater. And I think those eyes, in conjunction with the underwater fleeing action mentioned above, explain why this fly has been so effective for me. Even though the shrimp eyes can sometimes be a little challenging to tie in symmetrically, I believe that they are important to this fly’s success.
I tie these in olive (recipe below), orange, and red (and an occasional purple one). Match the color and size of your local crawdads, and you’ll be catching fish in no time.
Hook: Hanak H 480 BL jig hook
in size 6
Thread: Olive, 140 denier
Weight: Lead eyes, 3/16”
Mouth parts: Pale green EP fibers and olive bucktail
Antennae: 4 flash fibers
Legs: Olive/brown rubber legs
Eyes: Monofilament epoxy eyes, extra small
Hackle: Olive grizzly, webby, barbules about a hook shank in length
Body: Olive dubbing
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