… two waterfront October Caddis units on scenic Northern Idaho freestone river.
Actually, these are not for rent - but they could serve as models for a cased October Caddis, if you are thinking about creating something along those lines. The pic doesn’t clearly show it, but the walls of these cases are very thin, and they are surprisingly sturdy.
Finding these was really strange. They were just sitting on the nearly flat surface of a rock about a foot away from the current high water mark and a good foot above it. The only way they could have gotten there, I think, is being deposited during runoff, which has been on the wane on this crick for several weeks now. But how they managed to come to rest in that particular spot and how they managed to stay there for who knows how long is fascinating.
Thinking about maybe supergluing the outside and then epoxying a hook inside. Would nymphing with that kind of set up be considered bait fishing ??
Yes, John, I think it would. There are artificial patterns…
I think it would be “akin” to gluing a nymphal shuck to a hook.
To me, the particular pleasure of fly fishing is in trying to “fool” a fish by using artificial representations of the various stages of aquatic insects. If the biggest pleasure was in catching a bunch of fish, I would defer to bait fishing, but the level of fun, and self satisfaction, I think, would drop markedly…
If I recall correctly, there is also a FOTW article in the archives along those lines.
No way I would actually use these cases as flies, they’re just models.
One thought I had was to use some fairly thick walled, rather stiff tubing as the foundation for the housing unit. Just build it up a bit with a couple coats of epoxy, then imbed some “rubble” from your local creek in the last layer of epoxy. Run some tippet through the tube and tie on whatever hook you decide is right for your situation. Add a head and some leggy stuff at one end and you’re good to go.
Each year when we go to Lowell, ID for the Fish In, I always slip down to the river, close to the cabins to turn over rocks.
Almost always find the October caddis, some empty, some occupied. One year as I watched one hatched while I took photos.
Will try and post a couple here. I have always enjoyed looking closely at them. One of the marvels of Nature. No two are alike.
Thanks for joggin the memory John.
I remember REE posting a fly he tied, I think he said he used small stones from a miniature rail road set, I tried to find the post but couldn’t. I remember I was so flabbergasted, a fly made from rocks. There is a whole lot about this fly fishing that I know nothing about, and I really like that. Someone posted this site also in an earlier thread about the OC, they use a “dark mottled sparkle chenille” for the case… [b][FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] http://www.flytyer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2976&Itemid=100[/SIZE][/FONT][/b]
That’s it, thank you, I didn’t think it was a FOTW for some reason - It may not be as much fun, but could you follow REE’s steps except use the brown chenille for the case, or would that decrease the effectiveness…
At several fly tying shows I have seen some great looking realistic Cased Caddis flies that were tied using more traditional fly tying materials and they looked great. However, along with most other ‘realistic flies’, I believe they belong in a display case and not out on the water. Most realistic type flies take so much time to create that it would be a shame to fish them. Create some great looking fly plates and sell them or put them in a display case. Don’t fish them, the fish will easily take non-realistic type flies that don’t take a tenth of the time to create. Larry —sagefisher—
This doesn’t hold a light to REE creation, other than the materials are probably more accessible, Shoe Goo & rubber legs cut up. The truth is I have not tried these.
