Best Crawdad Fly Patterns

Dead Drift Crayfish Brown

The Dead Drift Crayfish is a great size and color to mimic the majority of the crayfish found near Missoula. The Orange Rabbit and Orange Colored Hide acts as a trigger to get trout to strike. Don’t let the name fool you, once in a while the twitch moves the fish!

Fly Tying Material List

  • Hook: 3XL Size 8
  • Thread: Brown 6/0 Danville
  • Tail: 2 Strands Pearl Krystal Flash under Orange Rabbit Fur under Pheasant Tail Fibers
  • Carapace: Mottled Brown Thin Skin
  • Eyes: Silver Bead Chain
  • Dubbing Over Eyes: Olive
  • Claws: Gold Dyed Variant Rabbit Strips, Hide Side colored Orange
  • Hackle: Brown
  • Rib: Brassie Brown Wire, reverse wrapped
  • Body: Olive Dubbing

TJ Hooker

Originally designed as a stonefly imitation, the TJ Hooker excels as a Crawdad imitation. The marabou tail acts as the two front claws, while the rubber legs work as shorter legs. We know it doesn’t look exactly like a crawdad to us, but the trout disagree!

Fly Tying Material List

  • Hook: 3XL Jig Hook 6-10
  • Bead: Gold Slotted Tungsten
  • Thread: Tan 6/0 Uni Thread (136D)
  • Tail: Tan Marabou
  • Rear Body: Tan/Brown Variegated Chenille
  • Rubber Legs: Three Sets Tan Spanflex

Additional Crawdad Resources

Crawdads

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