FOOD SOURCES ON SPRING CREEKS (part 7) - EOTG - Apr 7, 2014

FOOD SOURCES ON SPRING CREEKS (part 7)
Caddis often seems to be forgotten or even ignored due to the popularity of mayflies on spring creeks. They will also hatch and cause trout to rise and will consist a certain part of the trout's diet. Caddis hatches also take place during the warm months (spring to summer) but their larvae remain active and seem found throughout the season (my kick-seining and stomach samples). Knowing food sources and having fly patterns always get you one-step ahead of others. These caddis larva patterns are such examples.

I would offer my suggestion for consideration. The article mentions the "caddis hatches". I would suggest that very often fishermen witness what I call a "reverse hatch " and ascribe it to he a " hatch ".

Most who study the caddis will tell you, and I have experienced the same, that when the caddis swarm above the river and mate, it is certainly not the hatch. But, it leads to the best time to catch a trout on a dry caddis imitation......that is, when the female comes back to the water to lay her now fertilized eggs. She often hits the water and dives under the water to deposit her eggs. This is when you see a lot of adult caddis on the water. It is also when you see the green-butted imitations working so well - the egg sack versions.

This is what I call the "reverse hatch".,. When the female returns, deposits her eggs, and dies, spent, on the surface. This is when the adult caddis is most vulnerable to the trout.

When caddis actually do hatch, they fly off almost immediately upon hitting the surface and , therefore don't offer much opportunity to the trout. They don't have to float along like mayflies waiting for their wings to dry. Unless they are cripples (which the X-caddis imitates with it's trailing shuck ), they are off the water too fast to be good feeding opportunities.

But, when the females return to the surface and deposit eggs in great numbers following the big mating swarms, that is the best time for a dry......at the Reverse Hatch.