Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis
Caddis hatches can provide some truly entertaining fishing here in the Intermountain West. When I first started fishing caddis patterns, I used the standard elk hair caddis, plus LaFontaine's emerger pattern. Had lots of fun and caught lots of fish with those flies.
More recently, I've been using Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis. It is a very easy tie, very durable, and very effective, and floats well. The original calls for a CDC wing ( as seen in the picture ) but substituting dark deer hair for the CDC makes for another very effective fly. The abdomen is biot in an appropriate color for the hatch ( light olive and gray seem to work best for me ), the thorax area is peacock herl, and grizzly hackle completes the fly. In softer water, the hackle can be trimmed on the bottom.
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I think the genius of this fly ( that would be Mr. Harrop ) besides its silhouette, is that it rides very low in the water. My guess, from my experience fishing it during various stages of caddis hatches, is that its overall effectiveness during and after hatches and egg laying events is that the fish take is as an emerger, or a cripple, or a spent caddis. I fish it dead drift, no twitches, skating or movement of any kind.
This fly has produced well for me on its river of origin, on several of our local creeks and on the Greys River in Western Wyoming. Had two fabulous evenings on the Greys last August fishing this fly to rising cutts. Even caught some nice cutts on Kane Lake in the Pioneer Mountains last summer with it.
John