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2013 Crane fly Swap

Swap 
9K views 79 replies 7 participants last post by  riseform 
#1 ·
I'm convinced crane flies are one of the most underrated trout flies of Fall. I've spent hours watching trout become airborne for flies they are obviously tracking under the surface in hopes of timing a near touch down at the surface. While I'd guess I've tied six different crane fly patterns over the last few years, I have yet to find the perfect imitation.

Given that Fall is such a great season for virtually all outdoor activities, it is not ideal for swaps. I think this has made exposure to crane fly patterns suffer from a swap perspective. Winter, however, is a different story. I'm proposing a swap in hopes of gathering the collective wisdom and experience from this board in a quest for new patterns to experiment with next Fall.

I'm hoping for 10 -12 participants. Ideally, all flies would be dry fly versions (no larvae please) with a description of the best technique (dead drift, skated, etc) for the given pattern included at some point here in the thread. The holidays are a busy time of year, so I'm thinking of a Groundhog Day due date (Feb 2nd).

For those who may not be into swaps but have insight into patterns or techniques for fishing crane flies, I welcome their input for teaching purposes to further spur conversation on this topic. From my own perspective, I have patterns that have worked well skated in riffles or dead drifted along a seam. I have yet to find a pattern or technique that will reliably raise trout in the calm stretches of water where I frequently see them aggressively chasing originals.


I will tie one of the flies pictured above, most likely Quigley's spider crane.

1) Riseform.............................. ......(done)
2) Calvin1.......................................Flies received
3) hooked1 (Scott)............................Flies received
4) steeli.........................................Flies received
5) kelvin.........................................Flies received
6) Pat Lat.......................................Flies received
 
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#62 ·
Happy Groundhog day to all.



Received Pat's flies today, simply unbelievable!

Still waiting on the last two to come in, but I know they're on the way. I didnt' see any crane flies on my last river walk, so I think we can hang in there until the rest arrive.
 
#68 ·
Good morning everyone. I appreciate everyone's patience. Mine will be in tomorrow's mail. The back story is as follows:

10 or twelve years ago, my buddies and I just became aware of the crane fly as fish food. I had done a float with Jack Mitchell and used a dry crane fly pattern that he had with some really good success. The problem was that there didn't seem to be anything similar available in local fly shops, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how the original was tied. A buddy found a reasonable copy on the internet and ordered half a dozen from the UK for about $30. Given the price at the time, these flies were like gold. Didn't take long for another buddy to figure out how to knock it off given a model for reverse engineering, and the last 10 to 12 years have been spent modifying the original design. If I were a better fly tyer, they'd be really sharp by now, but what can you do? They are a bit of a pain to tie, so I usually do a dozen or so during the tying season for the following fall. For this swap, I sat the picture of the natural, back on page 1 of the thread, next to my vice and tried to use it as a model to refine proportions and position of legs, wings, etc on my version. Not saying that it helped at all, but I'm pretty pleased with the result, and hopefully you all will be as well.

My last fall float of the Yakima was from East Cle Elum down to the Thorpe Bridge. My buddy and I each tied one of these on in the morning, and it was the only fly needed all day. I can't speak for how he fishes it, but I find a likely piece of water and put this fly through with a dead drift. Takes are pretty spectacular, and the fly fishes better the more it gets chewed up during the course of a day.
 
#69 ·
Received Scott's (hooked 1) excellent flies today, all the way from New York.

We may not have many participants in this swap, buy you guys are really skilled.

I'm guessing the last of the lot will arrive tomorrow or Saturday. I'll photograph and get them out asap.
 
#70 ·
I was out of town for a family funeral Tuesday and Wednesday and didn't get your message with your address until I returned today. Put them in the mail today from Seattle and I expect you'll have them no later than Saturday. Sorry to all for being the last straggler.
 
#78 ·
Yeah yeah, I saw that in your gallery recently, nice fish. I just wanted to show some love for our crane flies.

I thought I'd packed all the swap flies in my box sometime last spring. Was surprised to open my fly box this weekend on the river to find my brain was mistaken and I only had my patterns. I fished the Quigley exclusively Sat evening and Sunday morning and fell in love with the pattern (hadn't fished it before). In deep runs with no visible rising fish it pulled up nice fish that rose slowly but without hesitation and sucked in the fly. Saw the biggest green head I've ever seen on the Yak rise up and nudge the fly forward, never to rise again. I thought I timed my lift of the rod well, but I guess not. In faster water it skated beautifully and pulled up a lot of smaller (9-10 inch fish, last photo).

Despite thinking the Seahawks game would slow river traffic, Sunday was pretty crowded. It turned out well as I had to explore new stretches of water which produced. Every other angler I saw was fishing with a thingamabobber. It's been my Yakima Fall experience that you can stimulate fish to rise even when there is no surface activity.
 
#80 ·
Fished yesterday and remembered the swap flies this time. Tougher day for dries with bright sunshine and not a lot of fish willing to rise. Before I gave up and went subsurface, I was able to hook up with Steeli's pattern (sorry no pic) and Hans' Cranefly CDC & Elk (so what if he wasn't in the swap!). Both look good on the water and could function as a crane fly or Oct caddis imitation.

For any interested, here's Hans' pattern:
http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cranefly_cdcelk.htm
 
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