Neil Travis Caddis

[okflyfisher]

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

[lastchance]

Where is the neil Travis Caddis article you refer to?

[Quill gordon]

Lastchance,
It's under the 'New for the Week' section...... @ Journal
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/journal/
Qg.

[JohnScott]

Caddis hatches can provide some truly entertaining fishing here in the Intermountain West. When I first started fishing caddis patterns, I used the standard elk hair caddis, plus LaFontaine's emerger pattern. Had lots of fun and caught lots of fish with those flies.

More recently, I've been using Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis. It is a very easy tie, very durable, and very effective, and floats well. The original calls for a CDC wing ( as seen in the picture ) but substituting dark deer hair for the CDC makes for another very effective fly. The abdomen is biot in an appropriate color for the hatch ( light olive and gray seem to work best for me ), the thorax area is peacock herl, and grizzly hackle completes the fly. In softer water, the hackle can be trimmed on the bottom.



I think the genius of this fly ( that would be Mr. Harrop ) besides its silhouette, is that it rides very low in the water. My guess, from my experience fishing it during various stages of caddis hatches, is that its overall effectiveness during and after hatches and egg laying events is that the fish take is as an emerger, or a cripple, or a spent caddis. I fish it dead drift, no twitches, skating or movement of any kind.

This fly has produced well for me on its river of origin, on several of our local creeks and on the Greys River in Western Wyoming. Had two fabulous evenings on the Greys last August fishing this fly to rising cutts. Even caught some nice cutts on Kane Lake in the Pioneer Mountains last summer with it.

John

[Joel D. Popham]

John,
You are right on target. I use the Harrop caddis and it is an very productive pattern. Thanks for mentioning it. Best Regards....