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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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#3 ·
Thanks for the added pics. The use of groundhog in the pattern is only required if it results in a trout hitting your presentation in the same spot of the same riffle at the same time, day after day after day.

Though if that one in your hand awakens, it will see its shadow.
 
#6 ·
Foam would be great. I'm anxious to see it. Thanks both for jumping in.

I purposefully posted this one early with a late due date knowing it may be hard to generate enthusiasm for swap involving a solitary fly that is out of season. Still, I suspect if it flies (no pun intended) it'll be a great swap and heavily searched gallery item for years to come.
 
#7 ·
If you get enough interest in this one, I'd like to join.
I'm usually fishing streamers in fall.
I make no claim to be a guru with this type of pattern nor expert on how/when to fish.
I've fished two fly patterns in Idaho with ok success, haven't tried in Washington...yet.
 
#9 ·
Just wanted to throw out, I wouldn't be adverse to going with a smaller number of participants and tying multiple flies for each person, e.g. 4 tiers, everyone ties 12 flies and we each get 3 of every pattern.

I haven't done a swap in quite a while. Used to be that if you weren't in there in the first hour they would all be full.
 
#11 ·
Great. I know they can be a pain with the legs.

I'll give it more time to fill and see how people want to proceed. If it remains a smaller group, I'd be willing to tie extras or more likely a second pattern for everyone. I wouldn't make it a requirement, as I know some patterns can be time consuming and I'd hate to have anyone bail out.
 
#14 ·
I have to admit I anticipated a more enthusiastic response for what I think is a great swap topic. I think we have enough to make it a go, but I'm hoping more join in given the February due date.

If the numbers remain low, I will add a palomino crane fly that's produced well (pictured in the cutthroat in original post) so that we at least exchange six patterns. I'll give it a few weeks and see what everyone wants to do.
 
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#19 ·
Kelvin those look great! What are you using for the legs?

I've being searching a lot of patterns to evaluate leg choices. I've found patterns with hackle only, knotted pheasant tail (most common), moose mane, knotted brush fibers, rubber legs and 0.017 fireline.

This tie with rubber legs is very interesting: I tried it today with rubber mini tarantu-leggs (seem a bit too thin).
The video has subtitles.

I tried the following pattern:
http://www.flycraftangling.com/index.asp?p=145&szArticleButtonCommand=view&nArticleID=38
substituting knotted sexi floss for legs last night and tried again with 0.010 mono today (pictured, I bent the mono with a cautery tip pen): I'll have to test them on the water next fall to see what works.
 

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#22 ·
It looks like it may end up just being the six of us, if everyone is willing to remain. This may be good news for kelvin given the effort involved in his pattern.

Mine are not horribly difficult, so I'll still tie two different patterns if things don't change. That would give each person six flies different than their own pattern.

I'm still hopeful we'll get some late additions to the swap.
 
#23 ·
You might have seen the other recent post discussion about cripple emergers; those are one of my favorite flies especially when fish are super selective. I might experiment with the dry fly crane pattern I was going to tie and make it a dead still cripple or one that can still be skated dry. This bug swap little out of my normal ties, like a challenge though and looking forward to seeing what ties come through.
 
#24 ·
Sounds good! Nothing stimulates a predator like a hint of weakness in its prey. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I have enjoyed that cripple emerger thread. I added my two cents with links to my 2008 "Cutter's inverted midge" swap somewhere on the second page. Oddly, I can only see the gallery pictures from that swap if I'm actively logged in. Not sure if it's that way for everyone or just me?
 
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