Start the thread at the bend and wrap a few turns to secure the thread. A lot of tiers would rough up the hook before tying the tail. It’s really up to you. I personally don’t think it matters. Just make sure you make a thread base so the material doesn’t shift to one side.

Wrap .025 lead wire on half the hook. This should be approximately 6-8 wraps, but more or less lead can be used if the situation calls for

Use various sizes and colors of spanflex and Krystal Flash. It’s always a good idea to experiment creatively. About 2 pieces each will suffice for the mouth parts.

Insider Tip: A quick clip on the corner of the zip lock makes a neat dispenser for a material that likes to get all over the

A close up of the spanflex “tentacales”.

Tie in a bundlle of spanflex, and whatever else you may want (like Flashabou or something similar) on the bend of the hook.

Poke a hole in your dubbing packs for another easy dispenser.

World’s Cheapest Dispensers.

Select a larger hen saddle hackle feather and tie it in behind the dubbing ball. Then wrap the feather behind the dubbing ball. This should build a collar.

Insider tip: Hand blending Prism dubbing and Crawdub Dubbing makes for a good combination.

Dub the body of the Craw fly with thick wraps of various colors of Crawdub.

Using a dubbing teaser or bodkin, pick the dubbing out. Then hand sweep the dubbing back into the orange hackle.

Insider Tip: One fun extra is to stick eyes on the fly propelers. There are two sides so that’s four eyes you’ll need. Predatory fish like trout and bass have been known to “key in” on the eyes of their prey.

Insider Tip: You can also paint the cones to blend the whole