I happen to really like Bob Jacklin of West Yellowstone. He is a great fisher and contributes a lot to fly tying/fishing. During the summer, he holds a free casting clinic in the park in West Yellowstone once a week.
I probably did not do justice to his variation on the Elk Hair Caddis. And, I am sure others have tied their caddis flies this way as well. However, he is the first I saw tying the elk/deer hair in backwards. He feels it provides an even better sillouhette and floats very well.
In case you weren’t aware of this variation:
Byron,
Does he recommend sealing the cut ends of the hair with head cement to prevent them from soaking up water? I’ve read that many who tie deer hair poppers do that.
Joe
Joe,
Now, I know this is not a true test, but I put the fly in a bowl of water 2.5 hrs ago. The hair has flared more, but it is still floating high. When I put traditional dry flies in the “bowl test”, I usually get a sinking in a half hour or even less.
Granted, in moving water with the natural wetness a fly would receive, it might not repel water as long, but I think it will do well floating…
[
U](http://s1101.photobucket.com/user/byhaugh/media/IMG_4238_zps2b1f07cc.jpg.html)pdate: Still floating well after 9 hours.
