JMFLYFISHER
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Cranefly pattern (dry)
Does anyone have a cranefly pattern to share? I did a search online tonight, and except for the British style patterns, I didn't see much in the line of dry flies.....
Thanks in advance!
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D-nymph
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/20 09:09:32
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I don't tie any, because most patterns have funky knotted legs and stuff, their tedious to tie. When I see crane flies, I use a #16 partridge and orange soft hackle dropper off of some other dry. Trout kill it.
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eyeofhorus
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/20 11:29:46
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There was a pattern in Fly Tyer awhile back. I believe it was tied on standard dry 10's, 12's and 14's. It called for a dark brown dubbed body with 4-6 knotted pheasant tail legs, grizzly saddle tips for wings and very long furnace or brown hackle tied in rather sparse.
I would probably just capture a few cranes and tie something that looks close. There are many, many species of cranefly and they vary from area to area.
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Skip16503
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/20 11:37:45
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dano
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/21 09:10:02
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JM,
The pattern I normally use is tied similar to a catskill style sulphur. I believe it's called a net veined midge.
I mention sulphur because one of the better early hatches I fish are sulphur yellow in color.
The difference in tying steps is that it's tied using a laid down delta style wing instead of upright and divided (wing is ****hackle tips), no tail, and wing and hackle color are ginger, sometimes clipped on the bottom.
Another pattern I use is tied more sparse with gray body and rust thorax. Dun wing and hackle. The hackle is tied 1 to 2 times longer but only using a few wraps. Then clipped on the bottom. This one is flush floating.
I use frogs fanny on both flies.
I tie some CDC styles and one similar to a fully hackled flat wing caddis but those top two seem to work better for me.
I never had any luck with the knotted leg flies and they're a pain for me to tie, anyway.
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flyfishindave
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/21 20:00:31
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jim I tie the same one that dano mentioned first in sulpher orange & sulpher yellow we get both colors on spring creek
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JMFLYFISHER
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/22 19:22:31
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Dano, Dave,
I am trying to imitate that cranefly that shows up a little ahead of the Sulphers......Dano, I am going to give your pattern a try. I have seen fish taking what I beleive to be craneflies, but I the patterns I see online all involve knotted legs and all that....quite honestly, I was looking for something a little simpler in design. I think that fly fits the bill (as well as being good for the water I intend to fish)
Thanks guys!!
JM
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flyfishindave
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/22 20:13:55
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JM if you see a lot of crane flies also fish a size 18 or 20 walts worm for the crane fly nymph works great on SC if you get down around camp stop in
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2ManyVices
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/23 10:38:42
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JM,
If the knotted legs are all that's bothering you, try using cheap paint brush bristles.... Walt Young showed me this trick for ant legs years ago at a tying event. I've used it for crane flies since and it works well. Simply bend the bristles into shape by gently pinching and folding them in the jaws of heated tweezers. You'll curse me the first several attempts, but it will pay off in the long run.
2MV
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luvinbluegills
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/03/27 22:11:35
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You might not believe this at first glance, but a very good dry Cranefly can be made by taking a size 12 dry fly hook, wrapping it with quality dry fly hackle from above the hook point to eye, and nothing else. The modifier is using hackle that is vastly oversized for the hook. Imagine the length of the legs of an actual Cranefly and that'll give you an idea of how long the hackle should be.
Yes I've used it, yes it has worked for trout, bass and panfish.
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Flags
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/06/09 10:01:48
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JMFLYFISH: Here is one I found that is very good but some may have trouble with the legs....instead of tying knots in them use a heated bodkin to bend a joint in the microfibette ( not too hot or you will melt the fiber ) http://hipwader.com/2005/crane-fly-pattern Tight Lines.....Flags ( America's number ONE gun salesman...........OBAMA )
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dano
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/06/09 11:27:34
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That pattern looks sooo good. Last night there were so many craneflies (and caddis) on the water and all over my waders, I had to debug and wash off all those amber colored caddis eggs when I left. Here's a drowned crane fly from last night. 
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flyman
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RE: Cranefly pattern (dry)
2009/06/24 13:25:18
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