The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning
The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning
Cranefly
Easy - 1-3 Min
Coldwater
This is a pretty specific pattern, yet there are many cranefly larva patterns. Change the dubbing color or different yarn that looks like the craneflies in this video below
The major benefit of this pattern is it’s simplicity. Though the main material can be a little hard to find (google “Jamieson 290 Oyster Shetland Spindrift Yarn” ) it’s a great material to imitate a cranefly. The variation in colors mimics the naturals pretty well when wet, though a little more yellow/brown and olive could do well in the yarn personally. Overall, for $6 yarn that lets you tie 100’s of these, it’s a quick and easy pattern to knock out to stock you box on some cranefly nymphs.
Fishing this as part of a 2 or 3 fly nymph rig is preferred and as always, get it down deep and in the strike zone by whatever means possible. The best advice I can give is that when the flows bump up on a river, the craneflies get dislodged and move around a lot more making them a viable food source. They can get as large as 3 inches long and are a large meal for trout which is why they work well, they just aren’t always active in the system enough to generate substantial interest. When those flows go up, be thinking annelides and craneflies for the options on the menu.
| General Hatch Chart | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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Cranefly Sizes: #8 - #16
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Copyright © 2003 – 2025 MidCurrent LLC, All Rights Reserved.