Bodkin / Patterns

Harrop's Last Chance Cripple

Dry Fly · Trout · Advanced · 1 version

Classic Recipe

  • Hook Standard/short dry-fly hook (Daiichi 1100 or 1180, Tiemco 100), #16-20
  • Thread Olive dun (match hatch) 8-0 (16-18) / 16-0 Veevus for #20

Materials

  • Tail (legs) Wood duck flank fibers, 2 strands (2 fibers)
  • Trailing shuck Brown or rust Antron / Z-Lon (1 small clump)
  • Abdomen Brown goose/turkey biot (1 biot)
  • Wing Two medium dun CDC feathers (2 feathers)
  • Thorax Superfine dubbing, gray-olive (match hatch: olive for BWO, pale for PMD) (pinch)
  • Hackle Medium dun grizzly rooster hackle (1 feather)

How to tie it

  1. Start the thread behind the eye and wind a base back to the midpoint.
  2. Tie in 2 wood duck fibers splayed upward at the bend to suggest trailing legs, then tie a brown/rust Antron trailing shuck about a hook-gape length past the bend.
  3. Tie in the brown biot at the bend and wrap it forward to the two-thirds point to form a segmented, tapered abdomen; tie off.
  4. Tie in two medium dun CDC feathers as an upright/slightly forward wing at the two-thirds point.
  5. Tie in the medium dun grizzly hackle just behind the wing.
  6. Dub a gray-olive Superfine thorax forward from the wing base to behind the eye.
  7. Wind the grizzly hackle three turns behind the wing and two turns in front, then tie off (this low collar keeps the fly riding in the film like a stuck-in-the-shuck cripple).
  8. Trim the hackle flat on the bottom so the fly sits flush, build a small head, whip finish and cement.

Tying videos

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