Mother's Day Caddis

[pittendrigh]

Mother's day caddis are hatching in SW Montana...perhaps as much as two weeks early.
Been hatching for a week already. Saw a humming bird today. 37 years in Montana and that was a first too.

The best way to catch a lot of fish during the MD caddis hatch is to use a soft hackle wet fly behind a bobber of some kind. But dry flies are more fun. Easier too. See it. Strike it.

I'm not sure how important it is. But real caddis flies sit flat and low to the water. Al Troth's Elk Hair Caddis has been everybody's Montana goto caddis for half a lifetime now. I'm not going to argue the following fly will attract more strikes. But I will argue its flat and low-to-the-water profile is more realistic.

Two materials: Zelon wing and grizzly hackle. The Zelon is two colors though. I layer one tuft of bright almost white Zelon on top of dull gray. That way the fly looks gray from below, but bright white from above.

[AlanB]

This side of the pond they would fish your fly with with a spider (soft hackle) hung off that. Either tied to the bend of the hook or "two in the eye". The technique is known as "Klink and Dink" as it was used with a Klinkhammer first, now any dry with a trailing wet or nymph gets called that.

Looking at your flies has given me inspiration to solve a tying problem I've been toying with on and off for some time. I think you might like the result. I'll tie some when I get back from work and show you. In the mean time what size is this beastie? (Ho dear living in Scotland is taking its tole!)

Cheers,
A.

[Byron haugh]

Pitt,
Something like the spent caddis. The hackle is cut flat on the bottom.

[pittendrigh]

RE> Byron

Yes. That's a nice fly. The clipped hackle accomplishes much the same thing (a flat and low to the water profile).
If you study the morphology of the natural, in the first photo at the top of the thread, you'll see the body and wing are almost a pencil line. That's tough to imitate with Zelon. Your wing and also the duck flank wing (above) do a better job. The legs of the real bug radiate out in a horizontal circle, much like a horizontal parachute. That kind of detail-oriented dedication to mirroring the natural (as best as is possible, within a reasonable tying time) may or may not be important to the fish. But I like to do my best anyway.

[Byron haugh]

Pitt:

I wonder if something like this might meet your criteria??

[pittendrigh]

RE> "Byron's top-mounted-parachute caddis, above"

Well sure. Absolutely. Put those legs below the wing, rather than on top, and you're almost there. How much all of this matters to the fish is another question altogether. But to our eyes some patterns do more closely match the bug morphology and behavior than others.

[JohnScott]

Pitt,
Something like the spent caddis. The hackle is cut flat on the bottom.

This design is quite similar to Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis, which has been a very effective caddis pattern for me. Harrop's uses a biot for the body and CDC ( what else on a Harrop fly ) for the wing. The same basic pattern tied with a dark deer hair wing has also been a very productive pattern. On some creeks, the fish seem to prefer the CDC, and on other creeks, they seem to prefer the deer hair version.

John

[NJTroutbum]

I have always had alot of luck with a sparse EHC (style) tied with Chuck hair vs the elk and grizzly hackle tied gape length. I add a slight chin to the pattern to help flare the head.

Ralph

[ScottP]

Going to give Doug Korn's Spent Wing Caddis a shot if the Grannom's are out back here in the east:






Regards,
Scott

[NJTroutbum]

Doug has an excellent pattern.