Caddis are confusing to me an many others. Here are the questions:
Would the bodies of the La Fontaine Deep Sparkle Pupa be the color of the larva, and;
the body color for the Caddis Emerger be the color of the dun or adult?
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Caddis are confusing to me an many others. Here are the questions:
Would the bodies of the La Fontaine Deep Sparkle Pupa be the color of the larva, and;
the body color for the Caddis Emerger be the color of the dun or adult?
Yes, it can be confusing. I believe that one has to focus on the particular species of Caddis being imitated. For example, this is the color variation on the Grannom or Brachycentrus from larva to adult:Quote:
Originally Posted by lastchance
http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/ento.../grannom.shtml
When I tie the deep sparkle pupa or emerging sparkle pupa (both of which are emergers) the color schemes I use are here:
https://planettrout.wordpress.com/20...ion-completed/
When tying larva (for free living or cased Caddis), I use different patterns from those above. They are simpler and reflect the nature of the larva...like this:
http://midcurrent.com/videos/how-to-...-caddis-larva/
Adults are different and are not called duns (May flies have a dun stage). I tie patterns to imitate cripples, the actual adult,ovipositing, diving adult, spent adult and drowned adult. Again, focus on the species in your area, take samples while on the water, identify them and proceed from there to tie representations of all the stages...both of these will help:
http://www.amazon.com/Caddisflies-Gary-LaFontaine/dp/0941130983
http://www.amazon.com/Caddisflies-Ea.../dp/0811704564
PT/TB ;)
Seems to me:
The body should be the color of the abdomen color of the caddis being imitated.....often a shade of green.
The veil is primarily intended to capture air bubbles to imitate the gas bubble used by the insect to assist it in rising to the surface during emergence. The veil, I believe, should be a very light color (opaque) in order that the body color shows through.
When I watched LaFontaine tie the fly, in person, he touch - dubbed a bright, near - neon green body which was thin. The veil was a light colored antron, and very sparse in order that the body would show through.
There is a pretty close representation by Frank Thompson on Hans Weilenmann's website. The fly is third from the left on the top row of this page linked below.
The only difference is that the body, while green, is not quite as bright as I recall LaFontaine showing:
http://www.flytierspage.com/fthompson/fthompson.htm
In CADDISFLIES he identified four major color combinations and several minor ones. If you know what species are common in your river you should carry pupa imitations to match them. My favorite for a searching pattern in this area is a brown and yellow pupa which has a body of golden antron blended 50/50 with brown fur, a gold or amber yellow overbody and a brown head. I'm not sure what colors would match the most common caddis near you.