Bodkin / Patterns

Ball Peen Craw

Streamer · Smallmouth Bass · Largemouth Bass · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Standard streamer (Mustad 3399 or similar), #4
  • Thread Burnt orange 70 denier

Materials

  • Claws / antennae Pumpkin w/ black flake (Sili Legs, splayed)
  • Flash Copper flashabou (A few strands Flash Accent)
  • Body Crayfish brown / rusty brown (Whitlock's SLF Crayfish Brown + Rusty Brown Craw Dub blend)
  • Eyes Black ostrich herl (Bead-chain, four beads)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the hook and start the thread at the bend.
  2. Tie in the pumpkin-black-flake Sili Legs so they splay out over the bend as the crayfish's claws and antennae.
  3. Add a few strands of copper flash at the same point.
  4. Blend the crayfish-brown and rusty-brown dubbing and dub a fat, buggy body forward, leaving room at the head.
  5. At the head, figure-8 the black bead-chain eyes (built up to four beads). This weighted cluster gives the fly its ball-peen-hammer nose and flips it hook-up.
  6. Dub a little more body around and behind the eyes to blend them in.
  7. Whip finish behind the eye and pick out the dubbing for a scruffy, lifelike look.

Tying videos

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