Iridescent Black Cricket

By Gary Lewis

If you like beating up on September trout and panfish with a hopper, change it up a bit next time you head to the stream. Here’s a great cricket pattern taken from Probasco’s Favorite Northwest Flies by Frank Amato Publications.

You can catch fish on grasshopper and cricket imitations all summer long, but there’s something about September that makes fish pull in close to the bank and watch the current for terrestrials on top. Dead drift the Iridescent Black Cricket along grassy banks all the way till dark. It’s okay to give it a little twitch now and then.

Tie this pattern with black thread on a No. 10 Daiichi 1270. For the tail, use black stripped quills. For the abdomen, use black #202 Foamback, wound around the hook. To make the legs, use dyed black pheasant tail, knotted at the knees. Build the wing and head from a section of dyed black turkey feather. For the antenna, use stripped grizzly hackle stems. Use black beads or melted mono for the eyes. For the thorax, use black iridescent dubbing. Pull the turkey quill forward, secure behind the eyes and trim off excess. Pick out the dubbing with a bodkin

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