Bead Purple slotted tungsten, size 4.6mm for a #6 hook
Tail Blue over purple over gray marabou
Flash Blue flashabou
Antennae Blue and purple micro Chicone’s Crusher Legs
Hackle Low-grade grizzly saddle hackle
Body Electric blue SLF Prism Dubbing
Collar Kingfisher blue coq de León hen saddle
Legs Blue and purple micro Chicone’s Crusher Legs
How to tie it
Slide the 4.6mm purple slotted tungsten bead up to the eye of the Tiemco 708 jig hook and build a small wedge of thread behind it to set the bead upright. This is about a 40-degree jig with a flat eye, and the finished fly rides hook point up.
Run a thread base back to the bend. Peel a clump of slate gray marabou off the stem, measure it about a shank length, and bind it in at the bend, carrying the wraps slightly around the bend.
Lay a small pinch of purple marabou on top at the same length, then a clump of blue marabou about the size of the first gray bunch, and wrap down over all three slightly around the bend to blend them.
Lift the butt ends, advance the thread to just behind the bead and bind the butts down there. That builds bulk and keeps the shank an even diameter, so it takes less dubbing later. Snip the butts off.
With the thread hanging just in front of the hook point, catch two strands of blue Flashabou at the centre of their length, wrap back keeping one half on the far side of the shank and pull the other half along the near side; trim them about 25 percent longer than the tail.
Tie in a pair of blue and purple micro Chicone's Crusher Legs as antennae the same way, caught at their centre and pinned one half to each side, and clip them back in the material spring out of the way.
Tie in a low-grade grizzly saddle hackle by the tip at the bend. It builds diameter and volume in the body without adding weight.
Direct-dub the electric blue SLF Prism Dubbing: twist a short length onto the thread with a loose clump held in your fingers, then wrap forward so each turn twists more dubbing on, building a big shaggy body up to just short of the bead.
Fold the grizzly hackle fibers rearward before wrapping, starting at the tip and working down toward the base with wetted fingers to crease them back, then palmer evenly spaced turns forward and tie off on the bare stem left at the front.
Pinch the whole body to crush the hackle stem down into the dubbing so it is not left exposed, then sweep everything back with a dubbing brush to rough the body up.
Cut the butt off a kingfisher blue coq de Leon hen saddle feather, trim the small bristles either side of the stem, and tie it in by the butt with the inside toward the hook just behind the bead. Fold the fibers back the same way and take a couple of turns so they sweep all the way to the bend. That collar is the crawdad carapace.
Tie in more of the blue and purple micro Chicone's Crusher Legs just behind the bead, a couple pinned along the far side and the rest along the near side, spread wide so they dangle. Cover the neck with a tight noodle of the same dubbing right up behind the bead, whip finish so the wraps slide off the back of the bead and sink under the dubbing collar, then brush the collar out and trim the legs and antennae long.