I know, I know, I’m getting carried away with extended body flies.
But developing the technique for the incorporated tails for Duck’s Green Drake has opened up more possibilities. So with PMD and caddis hatches coming to a stream near me soon, I decided to do some experimenting.
The coin gives some scale reference for these small flies - tied on size 16 and 18 2X short dry fly hooks.
The tails are a bit much on the parachute PMD dun but it should fish. A shorter tail length is only a nipper away. I’ve not tied a sparkle (compara)dun before, so anything wrong with that fly is because it is the first one that I’ve ever tied. The X-caddis has a green body and orangish tan shuck. The larger caddis is a take off from Harrop’s Henry’s Fork Caddis, but tied with an extended body with shuck and substituting deer hair for the CDC wing.
Hope to get these out on the water soon. In the meantime, it’s a conceptual thing. I like using the shorter, lighter, short shank hooks, which require less hackle or hair to float.
I find it easier to control the length and thickness of the body ( abdomen ) with furled antron compared to putting something ( dubbing, biot, quill ) around a hook shank. And I like the way the shucks and tails come right out of the end of the fly, although getting them in the right / best position does take some attention.
I particularly like the way the predecessors to this part of the extended family have produced, and I think part of the reason they have done so well is the flexible abdomen which has a texture more natural to the fish than a full on hook shank.
Hey JohnScott. Like I said, I furl all of my hoppers, but I never thought of trying small flies. Keep experimenting. I’m going to give them a try, too. I guess you have to split the antron according to the size of the fly?
Bruce
I didn’t have to go less than one strand of antron for any of these flies, but that would be an option for even smaller versions. Or you could use split strands of two different colors for a multi-color FEB ( think segmentation ).
On these flies, I left out the .5 mm StretchMagic since it does add a bit of bulk. If the bodies aren’t “firm” enough when fished, I may opt for some very fine, supple tippet ( 5X or 6X ) material to stiffen them up a bit. The problem with tippet when I tried 4X mono on another fly was that it is too stiff, which inhibited a good, tight furl.
Sounds like you are catching on to this style of fly. As I recall, you did an FEB drake of your own recently and fished it with some success. If you care to add pix of any of the extended body flies you tie, please feel free to do so. ( That goes for anyone else, too. )
That’s a big one, for sure, Zac. What is it ?? I think it would be a good addition to the extended family, but not likely something I would fish locally.
I am no bug expert… just the mayflies we get around here. I see these and the bigger yellow hexes starting now through September. I have a few nymph patterns that do darn well in the film/ as a streamer, but am always looking for something new to tinker with.
ALSO: pay no attention to the ice rod and flasher in the background! They are only used by desperate people in the middle of winter to catch dinky bluegills.
… consisting of the four original flies plus a few back ups.
First up - an X-Caddis …
… and seen with a friend …
Second up - the Henry’s Fork version of the X-Caddis …
… and his friend …
The tan caddis …
… did pretty well in the hooking category but didn’t manage to keep any on for a photo op.
But another X-Caddis …
… had a bit more success in the landing department …
But the real delight was the little PMD …
… that FINALLY found a guest …
… to introduce to the group.
Also had a good number of fish on a Duck’s Green Drake, a couple on an FEB salmonfly, and a couple more on an FEB golden stone.
The only one at the extended family’s outing that didn’t catch a fishy was the sparkle (compara)dun. Best he could do was one close look ( aka a refusal ).
The only family members that didn’t show for the Fourth of July Family Outing were the skwala and the October caddis. They do their celebrating spring and fall, not summer.
… for furling the extended body is Widow’s Web, from Montana Fly Company, as seen in the tan caddis.
Besides taking the furl very nicely, it comes in something of a bulk form, with very long fibers, which makes it easy to vary the size of the extended body with a “single” strand. It comes in a wide range of colors. I only have tan and white so the tan caddis was the only fly I tied with it.
… of the extended family emerged today from Scott’s thread on flies he’s been tying before heading west. It is a variation on Wally Wiese’s ClackaCaddis, which was a very good pattern for me last summer.
The FEB consists of peacock Ice Dub placed between the halves of a split strand of antron before furling. It looks pretty decent but it remains to be seen if the fishies will like it. Should know later today.
Caught something of a hatch on a little crick this afternoon. Green drakes. Got quite a bit of action on the FEB Clacka Caddis but a lot of it was looks / refusals and light hits. Did hook and land six or seven fishies in the three places I fished it.
But the Duck’s Green Drake was the better producer, overall, and picked up several of the fishies that didn’t even look at or refused good drifts of the Clacka. That was more a matter of selection during the hatch than anything else.
Having said that, the Clacka took the biggest fish of the day ( in the last photo above ).
I think I like this view the best.
John
P.S. Really looking forward to fishing this one during a caddis hatch !!
