Critique my Caddis

Well, after 16 years I am going to try and tie again. Well, I wasn’t any good when I did it back then. I found my old kit from High School (Class of 92, make anyone feel old?) and I bought what I lacked in supplies for the flies I will be using here in NM.

So, here is my first complete Elk Hair Caddis (there were two attempts before this). It’s bleached Elk hair with some tan/brown dubbing and dark red hackle and thin copper wire.

I Don’t know about the color combos but I used I had. I only have the one color of hackle for now.

I will spare everyone my first attempt at the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, it’s pretty beastly looking…

wow, doesnt look like you took a 16 year break!
looks great!

not bad at all not at all

Looks great man, a definite fish-catcher. :slight_smile:

One suggestion I might make would be to tie in your hackle the other way, so that the curvature of the fibers curves forward, rather than back. Its not going to ruin the fly by any means, but you might find that wrapping the hackle in that way keeps your fly floating better, longer. :slight_smile:

That fly will catch fish; nice job. One thing I’d recommend would be to shorten the wing a bit. I started tying my wings like Hans Weilenmann does with his CDC & Elk (check out the video):
http://www.danica.com/flytier/hweilenmann/cdcelk.htm

Measure the wing, shank length, cut the hair and then then tie it down. My wings tend to be more consistent when I do it this way.

Regards,
Scott

These are the kind of things I need to know. I will do them the other way.

Thanks!

Will do!

Thanks for the link as well.

I’m not sure how you did yours, but when I tie up EHC, I do the following:

-Tie in an extremely fine gold or copper wire, extending off the back of the bend.
-Advance thread to about 2 eye-widths back form the eye, and tie in your hackle, curvature up.
-Palmer hackle to bend of hook
-Maintaining tension on the hackle, make 1-2 complete wraps of wire to secure the hackle at the hook bend.
-Wind your wire up through your hackle to your thread, tie off, and trim
-Tie on wing.

Yes, I did do the wire deal. I was instructed on that from one of the guys at a local fly shop.

Also the dubbing I used had a little flash in it. I don’t know if that aids in attracting or not but it’s in there.

Where did you dub? Under the hackle? I dont dub mine. Sparkle cant hurt, though. :slight_smile:

That fly will catch fish just fine. Here is what I would change.

Stack the hair and shorten the wing.
Maybe clean the fuzz out of the hair better. It looks like there is some fuzz up by the head.
Shorten the hackle.

Here is what I would shoot for. http://www.danica.com/flytier/ccraven/elk_hair_caddis.htm

I used to use the wire rib, but now I just leave the tag end of my tying thread long and rib with that. My flies are just as durable and it saves a tying step; I’m all for anything that speeds up my tying.

Regards,
Scott

Yes, I dubbed a bit under the hackle. Not so much though.

Jay,

That fuzz is my sloppy dubbing shooting out. I still have some work to do figuring out how to get the dubbing to get on my thread good.

Scott,

I will try the thread technique instead of adding wire and see how it works for me.

Thanks for the response all!

I do the same thing.

Also, I like to tie the hackle in at the rear, then palmer it forward, then use my ribbing material over the hackle. It takes a bit of practice to get the hackle working, but I like that the hackle is tied in at both ends.

Since you don’t really need the dubbing on the EHC, this would be a good place to practice really sparse dubbing - it will go on a lot tighter.

So I took all the tips in this thread and put them to use.

I slimmed the dubbing out and I tried my best to stack the hairs but I do not have a stacker so I just made a triangle with my fingers and tapped the hairs against my other hand. It seemed to work ok but they were still off so I trimmed the hairs in the back.

Anyone else do that or is it a no no?

I stuck with the gold wire on the hackle but I did reverse the direction like Cold had mentioned and made the wing a bit shorter as Scott noted.

The one thing I noticed was maybe I didn’t not put enough Elk hair on?

I don’t know. I will dial them in in due time…

Compare it to your first photo and tell us what you think. I’d say you’re well on your way. A.K. Best, an outstanding tyer, said he didn’t really feel he had a pattern down until he’d tied a hundred dozen. Practice makes us all better.

Regards,
Scott

I think it is an improvement over the first.

I should get a stacker though and a better selection of hackle…

For a first in 16 years or so…I think you did a heckuva good job!
That fly will fish!

The second fly is definitely an improvement…the hackle looks to be cupped towards the front and the wing is a better length. It will catch fish!
However, invest in a good small hair stacker. I like the renzetti model for a small one.
Stack the elk hair for nice, even tips. Don’t cut the tips off. The hair is hollow,…well, maybe not hollow per se, but kinda spongy inside and will wick up water. I also very, very lightly coat the butt-ends of the hair to keep them from wicking in water…and making the fly not float well. Measure out the stacked hair and tie in at the appropriate length.

Even so, you bugs still look fine and will catch fish!!

Good tip! Thank you…