The Skittish Crayfish

The Skittish Crayfish

The Skittish Crayfish is one of my crayfish imitations that was designed for action, rather than realism. This fly is made for fishing on the bottom. It has heavy lead eyes and a body of spiral-wrapped rabbit fur, which absorbs water, adds weight and increases the fly's action. Like many crayfish flies, the lead eyes are tied on the "top" of the hook, so that the point rides up when fished. It is also tied backwards on the hook, so that the tail of the crayfish is at the eye of the hook. This combination of weight placement and backwards orientation produces an action that mimics the motions of a fleeing crayfish.



Crayfish are an important food source for bass and trout. Flies that imitate their form and motion are a sure way to catch more fish.

The Skittish Crayfish is an effective pattern in rivers, streams and still waters. Cast the fly onto structure like submerged ridges, drop-offs or rip-rap banks. Let it sink and hop it back along the bottom to draw strikes. The same technique is great for streams and rivers. Heavily weighted flies like this are useful when you are forced to cast upstream. They get down quickly and stick to the bottom better than lighter streamers.

If you are a smallmouth angler, you have probably read Tim Holschlag's wonderful book, Smallmouth Fly Fishing. If you have not, I highly recommend it. Tim discusses a technique that he calls the "crayfish hop" and it is a deadly method for fishing wieghted flies like this.



Putting the Skittish Crayfish together.

The Skittish Crayfish is a simple fly to tie. You can easily load up your fly box with week's worth of Skittish Crayfish in an evening or two. This fly was featured in the Summer 2011 issue of Fly Tyer magazine and detailed instructions and photographs can be found there. If you have any stories or photos featuring the Skittish Crayfish, feel free to share them with me. You probably have all of the materials necessary to turn out some Skittish Crayfish in your desk right now, so let's get going!

Skittish Crayfish

Hook: Tiemco TMC 5263, size 6
Thread: Red Danville Flymaster 6/0
Weight: Red painted lead dumbbell eyes
Claws: Two clumps of fox squirrel tail
Head: Rusty wool dubbing
Ribbing: Fine copper wire
Shellback: Moose body hair
Body/Legs: Rusty rabbit zonker strip, spiral wrapped
Tail: Clipped ends of moose body hair

The Electric Skittish Crayfish features a shellback of hot-orange bucktail and yellow painted lead eyes. Tie a few like this for high or off-color water.

The Skittish Crayfish is a super fly for largemouth, smallmouth and trout. When you need to fish the bottom, you can't beat a fly like this. Tie a few for your next fishing trip. If you would like to purchase some of these flies, just follow the links below. Have fun tying and fishing this great fly!

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