October Caddis

[ScottP]

Hope to see some in a few weeks:



Pretty happy with this (although it's up to the fishies to approve), now I need to start tying dries.

Regards,
Scott

[Uncle Jesse]

Of course, you are going to post either the recipe or a video on tying that aren't you? Nice looking tie.

[ScottP]

Absitively; here's the video I got it from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDs5d1G_3Jk

A very simple tie; hope the fish like it.

Regards,
Scott

[Uncle Jesse]

Thanks, it is always good to watch a good tyer in action. I learn some little something almost everytime. I have never heard anyone around Atlanta mention October Caddis, I don't know if we have those or not.

[quivira kid]

Very nice tie! I have been watching Parks videos for a month or two... They have some very buggy patterns!

[planettrout]

The October Caddis we have in California is :

Dicosmoecus pallicornis




Brick Back OC Variant- Morris
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?s...us+pallicornis

NOTE:

Dave Blackburn, who runs Kootenai Angler in Libby, Montana. also swears by (October)caddis larva and pupa imitations during fall. "I like to use a big caddis pupa fished under an indicator, Blackburn said. Those pupae have a yellow body, so any large pupa with a yellow coloration will work. A lot of people tie an orange pupae because the adults have an orange coloration, but those guys don't do as well because the pupa are actually yellow."

Blackburn speaks the truth. If you inspect an October caddis larva or pupa out of its case, you will see an almost white bug with a black head and legs. Tie your caddis patterns accordingly. (Old Whitehead, Dave Whitlock, interjects that the genus Dicosmoecus has more than one species; over their broad geographic range the larvae vary from white through pale yellow to a reddish-brown that could be called orange.)

From: Flyfishing & Tying Journal, ppg. 42, Fall 2004

The four species and where they are found:

http://m.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Dicosmoecus

PT/TB

[pittendrigh]

Good thread. Timely too. Streamers Blue Winged Olives and October caddis are happening, right now.

Here's my take on the dry fly....an October variation on the Flat Caddis pattern. This fly has two materials: rooster hackle and bucktail wing. It sits flat and low to the water, somewhat like the real bug. Floats like a champion. And it's easy to see. One good way to fish now is to knot a tippet to the bend of the big Oct Caddis hook, and attach a #20 wet or dry BWO to the tippet. Set the hook for any swirl 24" or so behind the October Caddis. Trying to spot #20 dry flies on cloudy, windy October days is nearly impossible. Even for whipper snappers. But that big flat caddis even I can see. This one is tied on a #16 scud hook. But as you can see from the photo--the fly is bigger than the hook.

[ScottP]

Just got back from a week in YNP and on the Missouri; saw a few of the big bugs in the bushes around Holter Dam down to Craig. Tried skating a few dries like this:



but no luck. Really didn't see many on the water although I heard some big slurps after dark around the Craig campground so I'm thinking I wasn't fishing them at the right time. Cool looking bugs; I'm sure John's bulletheads and others would have worked fine.

Regards,
Scott

[JohnScott]

...Tried skating a few dries ...

... I've had some very good days with FEB OCs this fall, while dead drifting the flies.

I have tried "skating" these flies, which seems to be a popular way of presenting them, and haven't had any success with the technique. The closest I've come is the occasional hit when starting to pick the fly up - but intentionally moving it, no.

The whole FEB thing ( salmonflies, golden stones, hoppers, and October Caddis ) is based on a design that rides very low with a lot of stuff ( antenna, legs, the FEB ) going on subsurface, representing a spent bug. Just makes sense to me that fish are more likely to hit the bug that is struggling / dead drifting than one that is moving.

Maybe it is more that I don't have good technique for skating than the skating presentation in and of itself. But as I think about fishing this hatch the past several weeks, it occurs to me that for the good number of OCs I've seen down on the water ovipositing, I've not seen a fish take one doing so. I have watched several spent naturals get taken.

John

[pittendrigh]

....Just a few thoughts about October Caddis:

In Montana, if you are not fishing streamers in October you're probably chasing Blue Winged Olives. That's what generally provides the best fishing. There are always a few big October caddis around. But never more than a few scattered individuals.

On big tailwater rivers especially (Big Horn, Missouri, etc) many fishermen use an indicator of some kind, because it's almost always cloudy and windy at that time of year, which makes following tiny flies nearly impossible. That indicator might be an ugly hunk of yarn or foam. Or it might be a Royal Wulff, grasshopper or October caddis. The indicator fly typically takes no more than 2-3 fish all day long (which is 2-3 fish better than an ugly blob of foam). But a big bushy indicator fly in the middle of a Blue Winged Olive hatch seldom produces a lot of fish.

Fishing an October caddis as the primary fly in October probably isn't a high-success strategy.