Hey all, A while ago I had mentioned that I would share a crayfish pattern I came up with and that I had been using this past summer with fantastic success. Through trial and error I found by adding and removing certain things to the pattern it was that much more effective. Anyways, here we go... 1. Add a conehead or bead to the end of the hook. Then, tie a set of glass eyes or a floating set of eyes near the bend in the hook. This lighter end will sink slower than the conehead end. A word of caution, use a pretty thick thread as you will need the extra strength throughout the tying of this pattern. 2. Next add some hackle for antennae. I have found that brown and tan colors are the most effective overall for the pattern. 3. Add some nice mottled feathers for the claws. I used pheasant above. I really like the spotty pattern that pheasant has. 4. Next, start spinning some gray or white deer hair half way up the hook shank. This is the tail of the crayfish. 5. Roughly form the tail halfway. this will give you a good idea in the next step about how high to trim the body. 6. Spin brown deer hair up the second half of the shank. 7. Roughly trim the body hair (brown) halfway down. Make sure that the body portion is slightly larger than the tail portion. Also, trim around the eyes but leave some hairs sweeping forward. These act as tendrils. 8. Remove from vice and trim the bottom hairs straight and even. Clean up the hairs that are out of place as well. (It doesn't have to be perfect) 9. Remove part of the central feather to give your claws a "V" shape. This is optional as some people feel that it makes the crayfish look defensive. I have noticed no difference in fishing a clawed version or an "unclawed" version. It is a matter of personal preference. 10. The profile of the finished crayfish. As it is pulled through the water the claws sweep back realistically. I have found that it is best fished through rocky or currenty structure. Sometimes dragging it slow across the bottom works while other times the "fleeing" approach works. It has been one of my favorite patterns to tie and fish this past summer. Hope this helps, James.