So what’s the old nut on now then? Well it’s like this. A friend of mine says that garlic mayonnaise is good for them. Boiled for three minutes, allowed to cool, shelled and dipped in the afore mentioned g.m. is the way to eat crayfish. Moreover signal crayfish. They are a huge problem in our waterways, whether that’s rivers or still waters. Besides the problems they create for our native crayfish there is also the damage they do to the bankside. And it’s purely my opinion but I think they have had more than a little effect on our fly-life too. We will all have seen the crayfish that are around the 3” mark size wise but what about the small stuff? From egg to the adult leaves a lot of growing to do. They can’t just live on vegetation and dead fish. They must be eating the eggs and probably larvae and nymphs of our water born flies.
So let’s turn to the trout fishing then. In my local river we have a massive population of these crayfish. And there are a few trout that we put in about three years ago at 12” long. Now we have not stocked it since and each year we hear of, and see the photos of, trout weighing in at over 5lb. These fish must be taking small fish and other creatures in the water and having used crayfish patterns and caught trout on them why not small crayfish? Protein packed little parcels for trout. Here is my offering.
Hook: 4 x Long Streamer Hook. This one is an Orvis 8808 Streamer but any streamer hook will work.
Thread: Red 6/0.
Lead Under body.
Mouth: Golden Pheasant Red Breast Feather.
Eyes: Nylon Burned to create the eye or ready-made “Fly eyes”.
Head: Orange Fritz type chenille.
Claws: GP Red Body Feather covered in either varnish or UV resin.
Rib: Nylon
Hackle: Orange dyed grizzle.
Body: Brown Fritz.
This fly needs to fish near the bottom of your chosen watercourse. So we need to lead the body. I want to load this hook so that it fishes point up if possible.
I am going to build up the lead on the top of the hook. To stop it twisting round this is my method. Tie in the lead at the point of the hook and in open turns take it to the head. Wrap three or four turns but do not trim away the balance. Fold it back as in the picture below.
Now bring the lead back again to the eye and over wrap with thread again. The lead should fall into the open turns of lead effectively stopping it moving around the hook. Cover the lead with tight turns of the thread.
Wrap the thread to the point opposite the barb.
Time for the mouth parts of the crayfish. Tie in two GP feather’s and trim level with the lead. That will level up the body and give a good base for the rest of the fly.
Tie in the orange fritz and wrap. As you wrap the fritz wipe the fibres so they are all on one side and make the turns to create a thick head as shown.
Next we will tie in the eyes and make sure they point down to the hook point.
These are my homemade eyes.
Now for the claws! They are made from the GP red feathers because they are coloured perfectly to show the red signal of the crayfish to warn predators to go away. Here is the pictures sequence.
You will be able to get the feathers left and right handed. Trim away the fluff and choose a pair of feathers.
Shaped and ready for the resin or varnish.
Here they have been shaped and resin applied. They were split to represent the “claw” prior to zapping with the UV torch.
Tied in not forgetting they need to point down and have the small claw on the bottom so when it is up the other way …… you get it I know. You’re an ESF fan is how I know.
At this point the rib is tied in along with the hackle and body fritz. The fritz is wound as normal. Then wind the hackle to a point about 2/3rds the length of the body and wind the rib and tye off.
And finally here is the finished beasty. It’s ready to go get some hungry old trout but just as likely to take coarse fish in mixed fishery rivers like my local Windrush.
Here are a couple of them ready to go and create havoc.
They could almost be twins!!!!
Enjoy and if you get the chance don’t forget the garlic mayo tip. Fly-tying and cookery. What more could you ask for?