Dave Whitlock's impressionistic crayfish — 'near enough' to fool everything that eats them, which on smallmouth rivers is everything with fins. Painted dumbbell eyes flip it claws-up to crawl the bottom, soft hen-feather pincers wave in the current, and a palmered rusty body does the rest.
1. Eyes — Attach brown thread near the eye and figure-eight a pair of yellow-painted dumbbell eyes on top of the shank (the fly rides inverted). Cement the wraps.
2. Antennae — At the bend, tie in two silicone legs and a small tuft of squirrel tail, projecting rearward.
3. Pincers — Tie in two speckled hen saddle feathers at the bend, splayed outward like open claws.
4. Body hackle prep — Tie in a brown hackle by the tip at the bend.
5. Body — Dub a full rust-orange body forward over and past the eyes to the hook eye.
6. Palmer — Wind the brown hackle forward in open turns as legs. Tie off.
7. Finish — Whip finish behind the hook eye and cement. Trim the hackle flat on the up-facing side so it crawls the bottom cleanly.
