Martin's Mundane Crane Fly

It's been a while since the latest installment in the Mundane Fly Project, and writing about the golden pheasant inspired me to develop another. Develop might be using a large word, because crane flies or daddy longlegs as they are also known have been "developed" again and again, and the number of crane fly patterns is really large.

The natural

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Simple

The crane fly is a simple insect with some very distinct characteristics, in particular the very long legs, which are a key ingredient in any crane fly pattern. The body is simple, cylindrical and with no special markings, and the wings are also simple in shape, and there are only two since the crane fly is of the order diptera - the two-wings - like houseflies and mosquitoes.
Legs, body and wings - three materials, just as prescribed in the mundane dogma.
I have even gone so far as to cut the materials list down to two items apart from the hook and the tying thread. I use poly yarn for the body and wings and golden pheasant tail fibers for the legs.

I have even gone so far as to cut the materials list down to two items

Fishing the fly

Crane flies can be fished in lakes as well as on streams. The most common use is probably fishing the fly on lakes on windy summer days where the clumsy insects tend to be blown onto the surface where they get caught in the surface and struggle, attracting feeding fish.
On streams it's more common to use hoppers or beetles even ants for this purpose, but the crane fly will most likely do just as well where it's present in the landscape.
Fish the fly on a floating line dead drifted both in running water and on stillwaters, which will imitate a dead crane fly nicely. It might sometimes work to induce a bit of life into the fly by twitching the rod tip or tapping the base of the rod a bit with the line stretched. This makes the fly vibrate, emitting the kind of movement in the water that could come from a struggling, juicy, helpless daddy longlegs just waiting for a large fish to emerge and eat him!
Poly yarn tends to float better than Antron, so for a high floater, opt for Poly. A bit of mucelin or other floatant can get both to float like corks, so material choice isn't necessarily critical.

It might seem a little late in the year to introduce a terrestrial insect (some species are aquatic), but right now the last crane flies are taking their last flights on warm days, and thanks the the often harsh autumn winds, they tend to end their flight blown to the ground or onto the surface of a lake or stream.

Brown crane fly

Martin Joergensen

Step 1- GP tail feather	Step 2 - separate barbs	Step 3 - crochet needle	Step 4 - loop
Step 5 - pull the knot tight	Step 6 - next leg	Step 7 - lazy leg	Step 8 - legs ready
Step 9 - start thread	Step 10 - split yarn	Step 11 - cut yarn	Step 12 - first legs
Step 13 - tie in	Step 14 - second bunch	Step 15 - legs ready	Step 16 - trim butts
Step 17 - twist yarn	Step 18 - body	Step 19 - unravel	Step 20 - pull apart
Step 21 - tie down	Step 22 - trim wings	Step 23 - wings done	Step 24 - whip finish

Martin Joergensen

Step 25 - color

Step 26 - done

Martin Joergensen