Really good article. Caddis are important trout food in so many moving trout waters. They were dominant in my local waters when i lived in Denver. the trout were so use to seeing caddis pupae that a soft hackle fly was simply deadly,and I thought i had things pretty well figured out.
One day I read an article about how the fish sometimes key in on cripples. In my mind I somewhat discounted the idea of cripples for caddis because the bugs seem so robust almost exploding out of the water. The very next evening I got out to fish there was a massive caddis hatch the fish were going crazy gulping flies in the surface film. For what ever reason the majority of caddis wer not alble to free themselves completely from their pupal shucks.
The mostly empty pupal shucks made the flies appear bigger and gave and overall grayish cast to the color. The fish were simply gorging themselves and I was fishless.
In desperation I final tied on a size 12 gray fur scud. I ruffed it up the best I could greased my leader and fished it in the film. it was'nt a very good solution but I did manage to fool one 18 inch brown with a slight twitch just before dark.
Any other caddis stories? In the waters I fish now for trout midges are probable the most dominant, although caddis are still important,and of course blue wing olives