The Mini Jig Crayfish is part of an ongoing crayfish fly series from McFly Angler on YouTube. Designed as a semi-realistic pattern, it was built to give freshwater anglers a versatile imitation capable of fooling a wide range of species — bass, trout, carp, sunfish, and even catfish. Small enough to fit in a panfish’s mouth yet convincing enough to pull a bass off the bank, it occupies a practical middle ground that few crayfish patterns manage.
The design is built around a long-shank jig hook — the Risen 9030 in size 12 — paired with 2.4mm brass dumbbell eyes. The jig hook geometry offsets the line connection point, which forces the hook point upward with less ballast than a straight-eye hook would require, keeping the fly castable on lighter rods. Veevus 6/0 thread in brown starts at the hook bend, and the dumbbell eyes are locked in place with Solarez Ultra Thin UV Resin before tying continues. Crystal Flash in gold, folded and divided at the bend, forms the antenna. Centipede legs in medium, orange speckle are tied in next — chosen for their durability over silicone alternatives. Pine squirrel strips in crawdad orange form the claws; each piece is pre-tapered at the tip and stripped at the base for a clean tie-in angle. A latex strip from The Fly Smith, tapered at one end and wrapped forward along the shank, will serve as the shell back. The body is dubbed with Kraken Dubbing in crawfish gold, which carries small rubber fibers throughout; picking the body after dubbing releases trapped legs and adds movement. The latex strip is then pulled over the body and secured at the hook eye, and can be colored with a tan marker and brown Sharpie to suggest natural mottling. The head is finished with another application of Solarez UV Resin.
The jig hook design means this fly always sinks hook-point up, with the pine squirrel claws rising into a defensive posture as it descends. Every twitch of the line animates the claws independently, triggering the kind of reaction strikes that a static imitation rarely produces. The pattern can be stripped like a traditional crayfish, bounced along the bottom on a three-way rig, or fished under an indicator as a nymph — a flexibility that makes it productive in rivers, lakes, and ponds alike. McFly Angler notes it is particularly effective from late spring through early fall when smaller crayfish are most active, and that a tyer familiar with the sequence can produce eight to ten flies in an hour.
Tying materials
Hook: Risen Jig 9030 (size 12)
Weight: Brass Dumbbells (2.4mm)
Thread: Veevus 6/0 (brown)
Flash: Crystal Flash (gold)
Legs: Centipede Legs (medium, orange speckle)
Claws: Pine Squirrel Strips (crawdad orange)
Back: Fly Smith Latex Strips (yellow)
Body: Kraken Dubbing (crawfish gold)
Cement: Solarez Ultra Thin UV Resin
