smallmouth bass flies

[daman1277]

heading up to New York this weekend and am looking for some easy to tie smallmouthbass flies to tie. Would especially like an easy crawfish pattern that can be scaled down in size and used for trout

 

[boychick]

May's Full Motion Crayfish is very effective. They work really well in small or large sizes, the rabit fur and rubber legs combo is killer!

 

[GenCon]

I know there is alot of crawfish patterens out there. But for me it is hard to beat a clouser crawfish. For me at least it is easy to tie and works well. Also easy to tie in various sizes. Been using it for a long time. Just my 2 cents.

GenCon

 

[Fishidiot]

Plain old Wooly Buggers will do the trick although it is best if they're tied with a dumbell weight so that they ride hook up and can be jigged along the bottom.

A better, but similar patter, would be the Holshlag Hackle Fly.

 

[osprey]

Yep ........ the original Clouser krayfish pattern , some green ones and some tan ones. Clouser Minnows scaled down in size are killer SMB patterns also.........GOOD LUCK....HAVE FUN!!!!

 

[BelAirSteve]

In general, clousers and wooly buggers - I don't really fish crayfish patters - no need to. Fishidiot, I like your idea of tying buggers with dumbell eyes - have to give it a try.

 

[dc410]

Yeah, Fishidiot is right on with the dumbbell eye wooly buggers. I started tying and fishing them last summer and really haven't fished a conventional WB since. They are just flat out fish catchers. I have done well on both bass and trout (as well as many other species). One of my favorite color combos uses the following materials:
Hook- #8 3xl nymph hook
Thread- olive 6/0
1/40 oz. red painted dumbbell eyes
Tail- dark olive rabbit strip
Body- dark olive chenille
Hackle- gray/variant strung rooster saddle - sometimes I reinforce it with light wire for durability.

Fish them any way you want and HANG ON! The takes are generally not at all subtle. Good luck.

 

[pwk5017]

dc410 wrote:
Yeah, Fishidiot is right on with the dumbbell eye wooly buggers. I started tying and fishing them last summer and really haven't fished a conventional WB since. They are just flat out fish catchers. I have done well on both bass and trout (as well as many other species). One of my favorite color combos uses the following materials:
Hook- #8 3xl nymph hook
Thread- olive 6/0
1/40 oz. red painted dumbbell eyes
Tail- dark olive rabbit strip
Body- dark olive chenille
Hackle- gray/variant strung rooster saddle - sometimes I reinforce it with light wire for durability.

Fish them any way you want and HANG ON! The takes are generally not at all subtle. Good luck.

Post a pic of that sucker! It sounds pretty sweet. I prefer rabbit strips over marabou, which is why i have been fishing more zonkers and slumpbusters than WB's. A black slumpbuster in sz6-8 was my top producer last year.

 

[dc410]

pwk,

Hey, those black Slumpbusters are tough to beat, but if I had to go up against it this might be the fly. Here is a picture of the Bunny Bugger that I described earlier. If you have trouble finding the gray/variant strung saddle I'm sure a soft, webby grizzly saddle would work very well too. Rabbit strip is an awesome tying material. If you like fishing it, use it for the tails on your buggers. Nothing says you need to use marabou just because it is the part of the original WB pattern. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with them if you give 'em a shot. Good luck!

dc

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Daman,

For an easy to tie crayfish that works well all you need is furry foam, squirrel tail or calf tail, chenille and some lead wire. It's even easier to tie than a wooly bugger.

Wrap the hook shank with lead wire. Tie piece of furry foam cut into a strip off of the bend of the hook. Tie the claws made out of squirrel tail or calf tail along side where you tied in the furry foam. Tie in a piece of chenille and cover the lead wire with it building a body. Fold the furry foam back over the top and tie off near the eye of the hook.

You can rib the portion of the fly near the eye of the hook and you can add hackle for legs if you want to but it isn't necessary in my opinion.

I just fish it like a nymph dead drifted. I don't make any special effort to make it act like a crayfish and crawl across the bottom. The fish don't care.

Here is a picture of one, you can tie them in any color you like just remember to use a lighter color chenille and darker color furry foam for the carapace.

This was tied with calf tail claws and it was used hard and put away wet so the claws are smashed up but they will return to normal when it is wet again.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[midnightangler]

The twin tail madonna is the best crayfish pattern that I've used. No real need to scale it down for trout either, you can fish Size 2-6 for both species. Works great on a jig hook with a tungsten cone too.