My copy is in storage. I remember reading his book in 81 or 82.
I know this sounds crazy, but I seem to recall him saying that caddis flies were not considered an important fly to fly fishermen until the 70’s?
If my memory is correct, isn’t that astounding!?
Ibwas flyfishing in the early 70’s and I admit the focus was on mayflies.
Would appreciate clarification on this from someone who has his book handy
Thanks
Byron
In his 1st sentence he says “Throughout fly-fishing history caddisflies have been treated as if they were less important than mayflies” . He then goes on to say however that “Certainly not because of their relative value of these insects to the trout. Nor has it been because of their relative value to fly fishermen on the trout stream”.
Regards,
Scott
The book was recalled very well ! After the Acknowledgments, in The Caddisfly Revolution page vii, it’s written that “Throughout fly-fishing history caddisflies have been treated as if they were less important than mayflies.” Furthermore, on page viii " In spite of the evidence showing that caddisflies are an important food supply on many trout streams, until the late 1970s not one major book dealt with the insect. This lack of attention seems like more than a slight imbalance. "
Thank you!!
I appreciate that.
I got to meet Gary once and he demonstrated tying his deep Caddis pupa. He was quite a nice guy!
Just a thought I’ve had In my head for quite a while: Do you think GLF was influenced by Sid Gordon’s book “How to fish from top to bottom”.
Gordon describes " the silver bubble" and introduces the Swanson Wet- Dry series of flies which are so compatible with Gary’s ESP patterns. I think they were on the same page, Gary and Sid, and Gary was offering up an answer to Sid’s question : Who ever solves the kicking legs and the bubble has got it.
Gary Lafontaine I sure do miss him!
Yes… he sure did have his shoulder to the stone.
[QUOTE=hairwing;394027]Just a thought I’ve had In my head for quite a while: Do you think GLF was influenced by Sid Gordon’s book “How to fish from top to bottom”.
Gordon describes " the silver bubble" and introduces the Swanson Wet- Dry series of flies which are so compatible with Gary’s ESP patterns. I think they were on the same page, Gary and Sid, and Gary was offering up an answer to Sid’s question : Who ever solves the kicking legs and the bubble has got it.[/QUOTE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It did, as GLF referred to the use of modern synthetics in Caddisflies, which Gordon would have found had he lived; to create the shiny bubble ! Looked through an old Hank Roberts Catalog from 1968-1970’s & it only has 1 caddis fly; but vaguely remember the “cut off the tail of the mayfly pattern” advice back then to get a caddis as S Gordon did to get the tent like profile of the fly; which are all over Rocky Mountain streams.
Very interesting Dave!!
What were the featured flies in the catalog back then? I suppose catskill type dries? Hendricksons, cahills, Adams, etc?
Was the one Caddis al troth’s elk hair at that time?? I checked. Apparently his Caddis wasn’t written up until the late 70’s although he was probably tying the elk hair Caddis earlier.
Thank you
Byron
Rocky Mountain stream flies were more to the adams, cahill, green drake, & wulffs instead of the Catskill style dry flies; along with the usuals. The caddis wasn’t even elk hair at the time ( deer hair ) & there are alot of basic nymphs because that’s what got fished most . The thought of cutting the tail off of a $1.00 fly to make a caddis to catch fish was a big decision back in those days ! What if you cut the tail off the wrong dry fly & caught no trout ?
Dave,
Do you agree that the Caddis was not such a “go to” fly as it seems to be over the last 20 years or so??
Art Flicks’ New Streamside Guide from the late 60’s was all mayflies, but Dick Pobsts’ Trout Stream Insects from the 80’s had plenty of caddisflies; so if you knew someone that knew about caddisflies in the 60’s & 70’s it was ahead of the other 90% of flyfishers. Would probably be better referenced looking at the old FlyFisherman magazines to see when the caddisfly became a standard in many more flyboxes.
My Go-To-Book on Caddis has always been “The Caddisfly Handbook”, a Orvis Streamside Guide. Written by Dick Pobst and Carl Richards.
A small (4" x 7") with 131 pages on just about all of the Caddis that a commonly found across the USA. Was printed by Lyons Press, and I bought at a half price book store. Been using it now for almost 15 years, and it has not failed me yet.
The coolest part of the book is Chapter 7, which by coincident has all the caddisfly groups divided int 7 categories for dressing the appropriated dry fly caddis pattern with the correct size hook for the species.
Example:
For the Black Caddis the material list is…
Body: Dark gray dubbing.
Wing: Black or gray hen hackle on Scotch “Magic Tape” cemented using Dave’s Filament, folded and clipped to shape
Hook Sizes:
Brachycentrus size 16
Micrasema size 20
Amiocentrus size 20
Glossosoma size 20
Mystacides size 16
Ceraclea size 14
Neophylax size 18
So you have one fly pattern recipe that is used for 7 different species of black caddis on 4 different hook sizes.
It is a good reference. We are sort of discussing the contention I have which is that the caddis fly was not a universally important fly to the majority of fly fishers until perhaps as late as the late 1970’s. If true, that is somewhat amazing to me…
I think that many traditional wet flies and soft hackles are primarily caddis imitations. It was only in the realm of the dry fly that there was any shortage of caddis imitations. The fact that caddis are less often seen drifting along for great distances on the surface probably accounts for this. G.LaFontaine also referred to the myth of the caddis as a super quick emerger that was not readily available to the trout as an emergent adult.
Rainbow,
My belief, based on observation and reading, is that often what folks take for a hatch is actually the females returning to lay eggs - often by diving INTO the water vs. a pupa rising from the water… What do you think??
Byron, I think that LaFaontaine would agree with you. I mostly use adult caddis dries as a searching pattern as they are common on most trout streams and trout will take them opportunistically. I can see them better than a terrestrial. On the Muskegon river where i know there is an almost nightly caddis hatch in the spring I prefer to use a sparkle pupa emarger during the hatch as very few caddis are visible on the water. There is often a simutaneous flight of egg layers so an elk hair caddis can also work especially if it is twitched over the fish. Actually a bi-visible or a renegade works just as well and is easier to fish actively.
Depending on the flyfishers knowledge of caddis, where even in a 1969 FlyFisherman there are caddis larvae flies for California & in a 1970 FlyFisherman the bucktail caddis “dry”; along with an ad for “The Hatch Matcher” for eastern & western streams which has a little black caddis, green caddis, etc. & suggests having all stages & sizes to fish with: nymph, wet, dry. Even back in the 50’s there were sources for caddis dry flies, but the references were alot fewer & far between as compared to the internet of today, or even caddis encounters on the streams of the 70’s & 80’s unless it was where the best dry fly fishing was…most likely secret fly patterns & recipes.
My Fish Finder was created on the mainstream of the Au Sable in Michigan, http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/2198fotw.php and was intended to represent a life form, not a specific bug. However, if you really watch it and fish it you will see that the fish take it for either a mayfly or a caddis - and in my opinion prefer it as a caddis especially since you can skate it across the surface. It is truly a fun fly to fish…and isn’t that the idea?
Looks like everything but the mule deer hair for caddis dry wings that AJ McClane had in the The Wise Fisherman’s Encyclopedia back in the mid 50’s, but more better !