After reading a bunch of stuff on this hatch, which I have never fished, looking at pics of the naturals and going through umpteen patterns ( recipes, tying instructions, and photos ), I came up with this fly as a possibility for the Idaho Fish In October Caddis-fest.
Any and all constructive criticism is invited. This fly measures just about an inch long, which is very close to what most of the literature says about the size of the adult. It incorporates a furled antron extended body, a deer hair wing, a peacock herl thorax area and brown hackle to size.
From the bottom.
This is a pretty simple tie and should be durable. But the real question is will it be effective ?? Comments from those who have fished this hatch, either on the Selway or other October Caddis waters, are most appreciated.
I have a October Caddis pattern and will post it when get it loaded, it is along the Stimulator style but with an orange body…
I think yours beats it hands down…
I hope to fish the Oct Caddis hatch up my way soon…
was shown a great area up this way that I had no idea was here… maybe something to add to the SW AB Fish next year… yes I hope to get that off the ground…
I’ve been using an Agent 99 like fly (no CDC) for October Caddis for the past few years. Its been working great (maybe they get their abdomens stuck in the water when depositing eggs?)
Thanks. This fly draws heavily on the stimulator. But I just don’t like tying them, generally, and was looking for something with a bit “cleaner” look to it. Any thoughts on the proportions ?? Should there be more thorax and hackle ??
John
P.S. Need to give credit and thanks to Ducksterman ( are you out there, Duck ) who posted some good ideas on how to furl bodies “off the hook” on a previous thread on the Western Green Drake. The technique he described wasn’t workable for that fly, but it really worked well for this fly.
Wouldn’t have thought of the hen hackle. Will have to give that a try. Thanks much for the suggestion.
What do you think about trimming the underside of the hackle, kind of a thorax version ??
Jack -
Won’t be long before we can compare them head to head, and see what actually works up on the Selway. I’m thinking about a version of LaFontaine’s sparkle caddis emerger and maybe an extended body soft hackle to complement the adult. Still in the head scratching mode over those flies.
John Scott
Got the pics loaded of the October Caddis Stimulator and an Italian Spider, and pardon the language but one that has been a great fly this last summer and now fall - " The Thing From Uranus"
I now shorten the name to the “The Thing” as could you imagine on a stream shouting across with other fishers near "Hay could I borrow “The thing from Uranus” they are hot over here…
Oct Stimi with and Italian Spider
Two Oct"o"Stimi, size 8 and 10
That fly just won’t do. Just to be sure, send me an even dozen and I’ll test them out when we arrive two days early at Lowell. I’ll give you a report when you pull in.
Very nice fly. I’d do some with rooster hackle and some with hen, just for fun. Now I just gotta find some Burnt Orange Antron yarn for furling.
Not to sound negative, but I fished a fly very very similar to that once or twice in Lowell, and didn’t catch anything. I think I still have em in my box. Don’t think I caught a fish on a stimulator in four years there, either. Then again, no two people there catch fish on the same stuff, so…
As for the “about an inch long” size, you might consider going up a hook size. Or two. Just in case. I watched Montana Moose catch fish on flies that looked like small toupees on the surface…
I will show you what I fish when we get there. I could put it here, but it is way too ugly for publication.
The flies I posted are for reference only, I tied them for up here…in the waste land, I know there are no fish here in Alberta but when I am not a pessimist I am optimistic…
Are you suggesting a longer HOOK or a longer FLY ??
I intentionally went with a size 12 standard dry fly hook for several reasons - wanted to keep the overall weight down, wanted to maximize the furled part of the body, and wanted to eliminate the need for any dubbing ahead of the tie in point of the furled body ( other than the herl for the thorax area ). Besides, size 12 was the biggest dry fly hook I had handy. Would you have any concern about hooking fish with a hook this much shorter than the body / wing of the fly ??
The length of the FLY can be changed readily by simply tying in a longer or shorter furled body and a long or shorter wing. On site day to day adjustments can be made to size and proportions ( thorax / body / wing ) if indicated by looking at the naturals.
Which brings up another point - some pics of the October Caddis on the Selway a couple years ago suggest that the burnt orange ( you nailed the color, Ron ) might be a bit much, that the caddis up there are a more mellow tone, maybe even into the yellow range. Any thoughts on color selection ??
Duck just generally mentioned furling bodies “off the hook.” The following pictures show how I implemented such an approach for this particular fly. I’ve used other furled body techniques for other flies, but this one is great for this fly.
I used a 2" piece of antron yarn, held securely at each end with an electrician’s helper ( I think that is the term ) clip.
Twist the clips in opposite directions until the material is ready to furl ( twist back on itself when the ends are relaxed ). You should end up with something like this. It helps to tighten the furl by twisting it by hand in the direction it wants to go - not necessary, but I think it helps.
You can remove the ends of the furled body from the clips and set it aside until you are ready to use it. I THINK the furl will stay just as tight as when still on the clips, but I really haven’t gotten that far along with them.
You could most likely make as many bodies as you need for the flies you want to tie before you start tying to really speed up the process.
When I was in Jimmy’s this morning, Jim and I got into a discussion of flies he used successfully last summer on the Teton River - to include Franz Potts sandy mites. Got me to thinking about trying Potts style woven bodies, again.
Never did really get the weaving down right, but thought it was time to give it another go. Used Al Campbell’s method as shown in the Advanced Fly Tying series and finally got it pretty much right.
Decided to do a large black over orange “mite” as a possible October Caddis Wet fly for the Idaho Fish In. The orange comes from DMC embroidery floss in color 947 ( $.31 for 8.7 yards at JoAnn Fabrics ). The fly on the left was tied with black horse mane ( from my neighbor’s bay mare ). The fly on the right was tied with dark moose mane for the body and lighter moose body hair for the wing. Tied on a size 10 Dai-Riki 280 2X long hopper hook, they seem a bit short.
Any comments, suggestions, etc. on this style wet fly on the Selway later this month, and the flies themselves??
John, my thought was for a larger cheeseburger for the fish. As for a longer hook or a larger hook, that is entirely up to you. I threw an orange-dubbed-body muddler in #10 and #8 TMC200R for years there, and did very well. Last year I tied CDC caddis on regular dry fly hooks in 10 and 12 and the 10s seemed to work better than the 12s. I think Moose’s were #4s. Maybe 3/0. All I know is they were bigger than anything I would have thought would work.
These bugs are BIG. And like REE said, brownish orange, burnt orange. I never saw one that was very bright. I used an “october caddis” dubbing (which I cannot find) and superfine “cinnamon” for my bodies.
Those mites look mighty good to me! I use DMC floss a lot. I’ll take it down to a single ply and use two different colours for some bodies to get some two tone looks. Haven’t tried any woven bodies yet. But these look really good to me. I bet a large grey or brown partrige feather would make a great hackle on one of these too.
