Bodkin / Patterns

Cowbell Cray

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

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Standard streamer/bass hook, 4-8
  • Thread Tan or brown 140 denier

Materials

  • Cone Copper or black cone (1, mounted reversed at the bend)
  • Claws/antennae Brown permanent marker (splayed hackle tips or rubber legs)
  • Body Crawfish orange-brown (dubbing brush or chenille)
  • Rib Copper thorax stripe (medium wire)
  • Shell/back Mottled brown pectoral fins (thin skin or scud back)
  • Legs Brown silly legs nymph size (palmered soft hackle)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the hook and slide a cone onto the shank reversed so it sits toward the bend, this weights the tail so the fly darts backward like a fleeing cray.
  2. At the bend, tie in two splayed hackle tips or rubber strands for defensive claws, flared wide.
  3. Bind in the copper wire and a strip of thin skin for the shell back.
  4. Dub or wrap a fat tapered body forward to just behind the eye.
  5. Palmer a soft hackle through the body for legs, then bind at the front.
  6. Pull the thin skin shell over the back and rib the copper wire forward in 5-6 turns over it to lock everything and segment; bind and snip.
  7. Build a head, whip finish, and stroke the claws so they flare in the defensive posture.

Tying videos

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