The pattern notebook · terrestrial
Crowe Beetle
How do you tie a Crowe Beetle?
Crowe Beetle is a terrestrial fly pattern for Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, Panfish. Find its 5 materials and 11 tying steps below.
- Difficulty
- 3 of 5
- Target species
- Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, Panfish
- Pattern designer
- John Crowe
Added to catalog · Updated
At the vise
Materials
- Dry Fly Hook, TMC 100, sizes 12-18
- Thread (6/0), Black
- Body: Black Deer Hair, spun and trimmed
- Indicator: Fluorescent Orange Yarn (optional)
- Head Cement
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Tying instructions
Secure the hook in the vise. Start black thread at the bend.
Select a small bunch of black deer hair. Clean out the underfur.
Tie in the deer hair at the bend, allowing it to spin and flare around the shank.
Pack the hair tightly rearward. Advance the thread forward.
Spin and pack 2-3 more bunches of deer hair, working forward to just behind the eye.
Tie off with a whip finish.
Remove the fly from the vise. Use a razor blade to trim the bottom of the fly flat.
Trim the top into a rounded beetle shell shape — dome on top, flat underneath.
Leave a small tuft of hair at the head untrimmed for the beetle's head.
Optionally, tie in a small tuft of orange yarn on top as a visibility indicator.
Apply head cement to exposed thread wraps.