Tim Soult's "Merkin Style Crawfish"

Tying Directions:

1. Tie in the barbells and advance the thread to the rear of the hook.
2. Tie on the krystal flash about 1.5 times as long as the shaft.
3. Match two saddle hackles and tie on so they splay outward. They should be about as long as the shaft of the hook.
4. Begin to fill in the hook shaft with the yarn, wrapping on with several figure 8s, tie off at the eye.
5. Clip the yarn in a gentle flare starting at the eye and moving to the rear.

Tying Notes:

One adaptation that I did, makes it one step simpler, is to omit the krystal flash and saddle hackle and tie in 4 pieces (or two folded in half) of the rubber legs. Use the pumpkin ones with orange tips, the bluegill and perch really like these. I call it the etouffe (Cajun crawfish). The orange is too long, so I snip it off leaving about 1/4 " of the orange.