River "Knight" Crayfish Fly

When it comes to crayfish patterns, it seems as if they share a similar fate as hellgrammite patterns, limited selection and limited color Especially for crayfish it's usually a standard color... brick red.   Over the years, I've designed dozens of flies that looked great clamped in the jaws of my fly-tying vise. However, soon after I tied these creations onto a tippet and presented them to fish, it was obvious that many of them were not gonna cut the mustard.  However, as soon as I created the River Knight Crayfish Fly I knew it was going to be a winner!

Of all of my fly patterns, few have shown more promise than my River Knight crayfish Fly. It's akin to the popular River King Crayfish Jig.  The claws are made out of glazed male ringneck pheasant feathers.  It has .35 diameter lead wraps near the segmented tail section for weight as, and the hook rides point up so snags are at a minimum.  But even with those good characteristics I was still unimpressed with this design when it first came off the vise, So I attached a length of leader material and took it for a swim. I was thrilled!!!  Seconds after the pattern hit the water, it turned into the real thing! It looked wonderful wet, and the action was superb. The fish went bonkers for it!  This pattern has become one of my favorite sub-surface patterns, particularly when I'm fishing on freshwater streams and rivers.  The smallmouth bass and large trout, because of the energy expense it takes to feed on small flies, will always choose the meaty crayfish over smaller flies for nutritional content. 

My 17.5" SM bass using my 9ft. 5wgt flyrod with a #4 crayfish fly and 5x leader.   Caught 9/11/09 on the North Branch Susquehanna River. - Dave



There are several color phases of crayfish that live in our local waters.  Everyone is familiar with the phase that displays red-orange claws.  However other phases exhibit tan and brown tones.  Many are individuals that have recently shed and molted old shells.  Tan-brown crayfish are often soft shelled.  These softshell crayfish are especially appealing to game fish since they key on this color and know its an easy meal.  The main "softshell" molting  season starts around the first week or so of July and ends the second week or two of August.  (Differences in the molting season can happen due to water fluctuation and weather but I list the dates as a general timeframe).

This pattern is great to use for sight fishing when gamefish are nosing along a rocky bottom picking up food.  I usually fish it with a quick two or three staccato-like strip retrieve then allow it to settle back to the bottom.  I tend not to fish the crayfish fly in water temp's below 40F degrees since most crayfish become dormant.