Pheasant Tail Crayfish

This is my favorite crayfish pattern.  I got it from "Bob Sheedy's Top 50 Stillwater Patterns".  There are a few flies in there that I use often.   The recipe is complicated so I won't attempt to describe it here.  You will simply have to buy the book from my friend Bob.  I can rarely get my flies to look like the pattern books but I can tell you this one catches fish!  And in my area here it is particularly effective for brookies in those waters that have these critters (which are many).  By the end of the season I'm usually down to one skinny scarecrow of a fly after starting off with a bunch.   Rainbows like them too as well as bass.  Well, bass like everything.   I make my tails a bit bigger as well as the legs because I think pushing more water is an attractor.


They are tied backward because this is how they escape danger, by swimming backward.   The eyes I'm using are a bit big but that is what I have and I don't think it really matters.  I use different colour and thicknesses of wire....again only personal taste.   It doesn't matter whether one arm is bigger than the other because that is the way it is with most of the naturals but I know it would bug some fly tyers if they tried to get them even and it didn't work out that way, LOL


Because brookies are often found around logs and snags, always have a few extra.  I had very good luck at Kenauk's Collins Lake this spring with these.  I also lost quite a few to snags.