What it is
Hareline Shrimp & Cray Tail is a stainless steel tail weight built to sit at the back of shrimp and crayfish-style flies. It’s rust and corrosion resistant, adds weight without bulk, and gives the fly a realistic tail profile. Fished and tied in, it helps invert the fly so the hook point rides up.
What to tie with it
Use it as a shrimp tail or crayfish tail while also using it to weight the pattern and make it track hook-point-up. Tie it in at the rear of the hook shank and build your tail materials around it, treating it like a built-in keel so the fly lands and crawls correctly.
Flies and the fish they're for
This is an easy add-on for classic shrimp and crayfish patterns like the Gotcha, where it helps the fly ride hook-point-up for bonefish on shallow flats. The same tail-weight idea carries over to crayfish-style flies for freshwater, where a hook-point-up posture is useful around rocks and weeds for species like smallmouth bass. It’s also a straightforward way to add tail-end weight to shrimp imitations used in saltwater situations where you want the fly to settle and stay upright near the bottom for flats and bay fish.
How it compares
If your main goal is just adding weight, bead chain eyes or plain lead dumbbell eyes can get you there. Shrimp & Cray Tail is purpose-built to put that weight and realism at the tail and to help invert the pattern without relying only on front-weighted eyes.