• Thread: UTC 70D, black
• Underbody: Dry fly dubbing in black
• Foam: 2mm foam sheeting, black with a brighter color such as orange or yellow. Glue together as a single sheet using a spray adhesive. Cut into strips between 1/8”–¼” (4mm-5mm) wide.
• Legs: Montana Fly Company Barred Sexi Floss- medium size, in olive, tan, or brown.
1. Start the thread and lay a thread base on the hook shank. Take the thread to the bend of the hook.
2. Lay a length previously prepared foam strip over the top of the hook with the back end extending slightly past the bend of the hook.
3. Make few wraps over the foam, then gradually increase pressure while making more wraps to hook the foam on top of the shank. Be sure to keep the foam strip on top of the shank.
4. Finger dub several inches of body dubbing on to the thread.
5. Dubbing completed.
6. Lift up the foam and start wrapping the body.
7. Wrap the body to just behind the eye of the hook, then pull down the foam strip and secure to the top of the hook with additional thread wraps.
8. Trim off the foam sticking out to the front leaving a short length extending past the hook eye.
9. Completed body.
10. Cut a 2” length of the medium Barred Sexi Floss. Double that over and cut to a 1” length. Tie this in the middle on one side of the body.
11. Tie in the other 1” Barred Sexi Floss on the other side of the body.
12. Trim each side to 4 or 5 barred sections in length.
13. Take the thread to the front of the body, tie off and cut the thread. Restart the thread where the back part of the foam is tied down.
14. Repeat the same procedure for prepping and tying in the rear legs as in front. Tie in one side. 15. Then tie in the opposite side.
16. Trim the legs to length then whip finish and cut the thread.
17. Put a touch of glue at each point where the legs are tied down.
18. The finished Sandwich Cricket. The bright foam on the top allows the fly to be easily seen on the water.
Check out this video from Brian Flechsig last year on using beetles and crickets for trout!
