pittendrigh
07-13-2007, 03:33 PM
Here's a new way to make a soft, open-cell foam crayfish.
This fly still needs some work: the proportions aren't right yet.
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Crayfish-and-shrimp/index.html
Fish do bite these things and hang on, rather spitting them out right away.
I've been fishing them for several years now, but the way I used to make
them was too slow and time consuming for practical use. This one's fast
and easy to make:
====== RE> the Clouser Foam Crayfish =========
The Clouser Crayfish is the best pattern out there right now.
I need to make mine *look* more like the Clouser.
The problem I'm trying to solve is size. The Clouser is tied on a hook
shank, from front front to back. So, if you want to make a big 2 to 2-1/2"
crayfish, then, in the Clouser case you have to use a jumbo hook.
And that nullifies the soft foam effect. Fish feel that extra-big hook and spit the fly.
So what I'm making amounts to a Clouser Crayfish with an extended
body, so a big crayfish can be tied with a small, short-shank #6 to #10 hook.
Then they bite the fly, chew on it and swim around with it still in
their mouths.
I tie a lot of streamers this way now (long fly with smallish hook).
To make a fly that has a mid-fly or rear-end mounted hook, that still pulls from the
front, you knot a shock tippet to the eye of the rear mounted hook. Then you
throw a double or triple surgeon's knot over the front end of the fly
and then knot the shock tippet to the leader.
Now you have a big fly with a relatively small hook, mounted towards
the rear end of the fly...but the whole rig still *pulls* from the front
(the front of the crawfish is the tail, for pulling purposes).
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Crayfish-and-shrimp/index.html
This fly still needs some work: the proportions aren't right yet.
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Crayfish-and-shrimp/index.html
Fish do bite these things and hang on, rather spitting them out right away.
I've been fishing them for several years now, but the way I used to make
them was too slow and time consuming for practical use. This one's fast
and easy to make:
====== RE> the Clouser Foam Crayfish =========
The Clouser Crayfish is the best pattern out there right now.
I need to make mine *look* more like the Clouser.
The problem I'm trying to solve is size. The Clouser is tied on a hook
shank, from front front to back. So, if you want to make a big 2 to 2-1/2"
crayfish, then, in the Clouser case you have to use a jumbo hook.
And that nullifies the soft foam effect. Fish feel that extra-big hook and spit the fly.
So what I'm making amounts to a Clouser Crayfish with an extended
body, so a big crayfish can be tied with a small, short-shank #6 to #10 hook.
Then they bite the fly, chew on it and swim around with it still in
their mouths.
I tie a lot of streamers this way now (long fly with smallish hook).
To make a fly that has a mid-fly or rear-end mounted hook, that still pulls from the
front, you knot a shock tippet to the eye of the rear mounted hook. Then you
throw a double or triple surgeon's knot over the front end of the fly
and then knot the shock tippet to the leader.
Now you have a big fly with a relatively small hook, mounted towards
the rear end of the fly...but the whole rig still *pulls* from the front
(the front of the crawfish is the tail, for pulling purposes).
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Crayfish-and-shrimp/index.html