Tying Instructions

Tie in the hackle (dull side facing you so hackle fibers point to front when wrapped) at the hook bend.

Tie in 2 strands of peacock herl (or cut one strand in half) at hook bend. These should lie on top of the hook shank.

Cut a 6-7 strand section from a turkey round feather. (FeatherCraft here in St. Louis has darn near every color you can imagine… you can order them online if you want to try the traditional recipe.) Tie in the section by the tips at the rear of the hook, then move thread to the front of hook.

Grab the butt ends of the turkey rounds and wrap them forward to form a ‘dubbed’ body. Tie off and trim.

Pull the peacock strands forward, tie them down and snip off excess.

Palmer hackle forward (5 or so evenly spaced turns) and tie off. Trim off excess.

How to Fish

The Crackleback was designed by Ed Story for fishing in Missouri, but now is used worldwide. The quick note on fishing it that I’ll include is that it should be fished as both a wet or a dry. When I fish with one I usually swing it across the current like a typical wet fly presentation, but if I see a fish actively feeding on the surface, a couple of false casts to dry off the fly and I can present a dry to the fish.