I need help getting my flies more boyant. I feel they should ride higher longer. Not sure if more dubbing or more dry hackle or both. Any sugestions would be great.
Do you use dry fly floatant that should help alot.
Can you post a picture of one of your caddis? It might be easier to tell what the problem is. Are you using good dry fly hackle?
Kind of hard to tell what to suggest without knowing how you are tying them in. However, that being said, I tie mine on a light wire dry hook and I do add a good measure of hackle over a thinly dubbed body. I rarely, if ever, add the ribbing. I think the trick here is to make sure that you are applying the correct amount of Elk hair. When I first started tying I would use deer hair (I thought the two were similar enough that it wouldn’t make difference). However, I soon foudn that the deer hair isn’t nearly as bouyant as the elk (someone with more experience can explain that the elk hair is hollow or something to that effect). If the hair isn’t flarring out to the sides of the fly, like this ( <.> ) then I don’t think the fly floats as good. Try looking at a EHC from the front and you will see what I am talking about. Good luck.
If you arent sure whether or not you are tying them right, then check this page out http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytyin … art24.html
Good hackle makes a difference for sure, but also make sure you are tying it correctly. Actually on my EHC, I try to use less dubbing, but thats my personal preference (or even peacock herl). I have goofed a few EHC and ended up with flies that didnt quite work right. A floatant will help out as well. In the end though, without actually seeing one of your flies, I can’t really tell what seems to be causing your problem.
As an afterthought, I frequently use more hackle than most people do on EHC…and the fish dont seem to mind a bit 
Thanks for the tips. I don’t have any pics. The two things is it’s a standard wire dry fly mustad hook. I should have gotten 1x thinner. The other thing is I was using deer hair couse I have so much and the other hair I tried was caribou. I dont hve any scrapes of elk so I’ll have to get some and give that a try. The hackle is whiting 100 and it seems very good. Once again thanks for the help.
whiting 100 is good hackle, was the sz of the hackle correct for the sz of hook?
yes they are 12’s and I was using #14 hook. They didn’t float bad and I did’t use my floatant I was just testing them and I felt they should have floated longer.
Deer hair will work just fine. I personally think it is less brittle than elk hair and I know it is much more common here in Michigan :lol:. Standard Mustad dry fly hooks are plenty light enough for such a heavily hackled fly. You have good hackle in an appropriate size. I don’t believe your problems are related to the materials your using. How many turns of hackle are you getting on the body of that #14 fly? Are you tying it in concave side forward?
tk- that may be the problem. The hackle on the EHC should be undersized for the hook… that means if you’re using a 14 hook, the hackle size for the EHC should be a 16, not a 12. The hackle on an EHC should extend just beyond the hook point. This will make the hook shank of the EHC ride parallel to the water.
Mayfly patterns on the other hand, like an Adams, use hackles matched to the hook size, so a size 14 Adams would take a size 14 hackle. The hackle on an Adams typically extend about 1 1/2 shank of the hook to the hook point. That will make the Adams ride cocked up on the hackle at the front of the hook.
Here’s a picture of an Elk Hair Caddis from the FAOL archives, to get a better idea:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytyin … 9fotw.html
And here’s a link to picture of an Adams for comparison, the picture at the bottom of this link will make the longer length of the hackle clearer I think:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytyin … art18.html
hope this helps,
peregrines
a cdc underwing helps as well…
An elk hair caddis should float like a cork. The quality of the hair it very important. Deer or elk hair both work well, provided the hair is hollow enough. If it doesn’t flare well when the thread it tightened the hair is more solid than hollow.
One trick that I have been using is to stack the hair and to tie it in by the tips, instead of the traditonal method of tying in by the butt end. This puts the more boyant butts towards the rear of the shank where the fly is the heaviest.
I bought some liquid pump spray silicone from Cabelas a few weeks ago. I read in another forum to soak my drys in the silicone for about 5 minutes, take them out and shake em off. Let them dry over night. They seem to ride right on top!
Thanks I seem to have it now. I added a few more wraps of hackle and made sure they where facing forward. I also reversed the deer hair putting the butts up front. Really seems to make a differance. 