Mike Flysmith
The Crawford Claw™
The first release from Marsh Syndicate.
If you’ve spent enough time around tailing reds, you know a fiddler crab doesn’t have to do much to get a fish’s attention. A little profile. A little movement. One claw sticking up where it shouldn’t be.
That’s where the Crawford Claw™ came from.
Capt. Mike Crawford, Oyster Street Co., and Mike Flysmith built a claw specifically to give crab patterns that defensive fiddler look without turning the fly into a science project.
The purpose-built claw rides on foam support dots that help it stand up and move naturally in the water. It’s light, easy to tie, and gives the fish a silhouette they already know.
Tie it on a crab. Put it on your own pattern. Make it subtle or make it loud.
When the fish are crawling around looking for something to eat, sometimes that little claw is all they need to see.
We built the claw. You build the fly.
Choose options
Overview
THe Crawford Claw™ is a floating claw system designed to give crab flies a more convincing defensive posture on the bottom. Once the fly settles, the foam-supported claw rises into the water column, where current and movement allow it to wave and move naturally—putting the claw up, visible, and directly in the fish’s line of sight.
Specifications
- 6 Claws, pre-shanked with 10mm shanks
- 12 Foam Dots Included
- Fits Multiple Hook Sizes
- Durable Material
- Made in the USA
- Designed by Mike Flysmith and Oyster Street Company
Available Styles
5 Colors
A range of natural and high-visibility options built for different water conditions, forage, and fly designs.
One Claw. Endless Patterns. Tie the Crawford Claw into your own crab pattern or build around it from the ground up. The claw, foam, and shank system gives tyers the foundation—the rest is yours.
FAQ
The Crawford Claw™ is a floating claw system for tying crab and crustacean patterns. It combines the claw, foam support, and shank to create an appendage (claw) that rises into a defensive posture when the fly is on the bottom.
Movement and position. Instead of simply lying flat with the rest of the fly, the Crawford Claw floats upward into the water column, where it can wave, move, and remain visible to approaching fish.
The included foam supports the claw and gives it positive buoyancy. When the fly settles on the bottom, the claw wants to rise—creating the elevated defensive posture the system was designed around.
Each pack includes 6 Crawford Claws, 12 foam dots, and six 10mm shanks—enough components to build six complete claw assemblies.
They are included because they are part of the intended Crawford Claw system and make it easy to achieve the floating presentation. Experienced tyers can experiment with the claw in their own constructions as well.
No. It’s a fly-tying component designed to be incorporated into your own crab or crustacean patterns.
Absolutely. The system was intentionally designed as a component rather than one prescribed fly. Build around it, incorporate it into an existing pattern, and make it your own.
With a properly constructed and weighted fly resting on the bottom, the claw is designed to rise above the body rather than remain flat—putting the claw up and into the fish’s field of view.
Capt. Mike Crawford is the inspiration behind the Crawford Claw and helped drive the idea that became the finished system. The product was developed collaboratively by Mike Flysmith and Oyster Street Company as the first release from Marsh Syndicate.
CAPT. MIKE CRAWFORD
Fly fishing guide. Fly tyer. And the mind behind the idea that started the Crawford Claw.
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Capt. Mike Crawford grew up on the water and outdoors. His earliest fishing memories go back to cane-poling for bream and catfish with his dad and great-grandfather before eventually finding his way into Northeast Florida's inshore fishery.
What pulled Mike into fly fishing wasn't just the fishing — it was the ability to create. Taking an idea, building it at the vise, and watching a fish respond to something you made yourself.
WHERE THE CLAW STARTED.
It started with a simple idea from Capt. Mike: build an articulated crab claw that could rise instead of laying flat.
That idea became the starting point for the Crawford Claw™. Working together, Capt. Mike Crawford, Mike Flysmith, and Oyster Street Company developed the concept into a complete tying system — combining a purpose-designed articulated claw with engineered foam and a shank connection to create movement and a defensive posture in the water.
BUILT FOR THE VISE
A CLAW THAT REFUSES TO LAY FLAT.
The fly hits bottom. The Crawford Claw™ rises.
Buoyancy holds the claw up in a defensive posture, where current gives it movement and keeps it presented above the fly.
Tie your fly. Let the claw do the moving.
