I’ve been trying to find a good pattern/presentation for these little suckers for several years and so far, i’ve come up flat. I’ve tried cdc, cdc and elk, micro elk hairs etc. I’ve tried dead drifting, skittering, rapid fire casts etc., and have been able to move some fish but nothing I would consider truly effective. I’m not sure if it’s the patterns or presenations or both. Has anyone fished these hatches, and if so, have you ahd any success?
soft hackles
or a diving caddis tied micro
The more time I spend around people the more I like my dog.
Mike
NYAngler, Have you had any success up top with any patterns?
Hi,
What sizes are you using? Have you tried a Griffith’s Gnat size 18 or 20? I’ve found that Whickam’s Fancy works well for some larger caddis, so I was thinking perhaps a smaller palmered dry might work for you.
You could also try the following pattern, which I call a “little emerger”.
Hook: size 14-18 (light wire dry fly)
thread: black 8/0
tail: white hackle fibers
body: dubbed olive rabbit fur
thorax: dubbed gray rabbit fur
wing : white elk hair “roots” cut fairly short (a bit longer than a serindipity wing) sticking more towards the vertical than the horizontal.
The idea is for the fly to hang suspended in the surface film being held up by the wing only, so waterproof the wing only. It needs to be presented very lightly, and in flat water. I admit it will waterlog after awhile, so this is for use only when a rising fish has been sighted rather than as a searching pattern. I’ve taken fish with this when they are feeding on caddis in the size 16 range. Perhaps one in the smaller size?
- Jeff
Hey Jeff, that sounds like a good pattern. I’ll give 'er a try when they start emerging. Are you tying the wing in tips forward or tips back?
These micros are ridiculously small. On average, the body length is around a 24-26, with a wing twice that length. In the evenings the little blacks swarm in the back eddies and softer waters and the fish pound the crap out of them. I’m not sure if its the patterns or presentations, or both that i’m lacking in.
Hi pspaint,
I usually hold by the tips and tie in holding the tips in front of the eye, tying in just in front of the thorax so they stand up against it when I tighten the thread down. A “controlled flair” is the best description I can think of because the hair should fan out a bit, but not too much. Anyway, the tips over the eye get cut off and the forward ends are covered by a small head. I find it’s much easier to tie the wing in so it is originally too long, then trim it back to the desired length.
I’ve used olive floss on the abdomen with a rib of black tying thread, and that works also.
However, from what you’ve described, the clustering of small black swarms, etc, then I would go with the Griffith’s Gnat. Interestingly, something very similar to the Griffith’s Gnat was more or less described by Pritt in his 1800s book “North Country Flies” (small hurl with palmered hackle). Pritt lamented the problem of what to do when the trout keyed in on the small black gnat clusters. His “fly” was something like a Griffiths Gnat You could try a size 20 or 22 hook with just a few wraps of osterich or peacock hurl or black seal fur.
On top ??? Succses??? me ??? Im like the 40 year old virgen I aint never had success…
I tie a pattern for the local spring creeks and river that is both a Micro Caddis or a Midge. It is an easy tie and can be done to the colors you like. All there is to it is the right color of Flash-A-Boo and a wing of CDC of the right color and Two turns of hackle of the right color. Real easy but it works well for both. I sometimes trim the hackle flat on the bottom to make it float low. I found that you don’t have to get to fancy to do a good job on both of these types of flies. Ron
Hook- #18 - #28
Body- Flash-A-Boo of the proper color. You can also mark it with a Magic Marker of the right color.
Wing- CDC of the proper color
Hackle- To color.
These are very fast ties. Just wrap the Flah up the hook and tie it off. Take two CDC feathers and match the tip’s up. Gather them and lay them on the hook shank with the tip’s facing rearward and to the bend of the hook. Tie in as anyother caddis wing. Now tie in the hackle and take two wraps and finish the head and you are done. Easy.
[This message has been edited by RonMT (edited 12 July 2006).]
Thanks for all the responses!
NYAngler, that’s too funny!
Jeff, i’ve used the Griffith’s Gnats quite a bit for the slightly larger flies and had a lot of success with it. When it comes to these little suckers, the gnat’s don’t seem to work. I’ve run them as small as a 22 and still nothing. I’m gonna give that little emerger a try.
Ron, sounds like a good pattern. What type of presentation do you use for them? I’ve tried dead drifting, skittering etc., I’ve been reading LaFontaine’s book, and that has given me some presenatation ideas.
I do “What we call out here” Force feeding them. I cast across and down to the fish and will skate the fly into the feeding lane then drop slack in the line to get a drag free float. This is all done about two feet above the fish and then the fly is left to drift to the fish in it’s feeding lane. You can get the fly in the fishes feeding lane the first time, just about everytime, doing it this way. The only reason besides having the wrong fly on that the fish will not take your fly is do to the timing of your drift over the fish. You have to get the right timing.
Gary’s book is a good one. Ron
Thanks Ron! I was just reading that tactic or a similar one in Gary’s book. Those little suckers have been driving me nuts!
Hi pspaint,
After posting yesterday, I tied up a size 20 little emerger just to see. I’ve generlly only tied them in size 16 or 18, but now I’m thinking I should have at least one smaller. It looks good to me. If you give it a go, let me know if you have any luck with it.
I’m still surprised a size 22 G.Gnat wasn’t the solution. I’m starting to understand your frustation though! If you have any really tiny black hackles that you could palmer up a size 22 or 24 hook, you could try that (nothing more than a black palmered hackle). If you can manage to get two feathers hackled up such a tiny hook, you could wind together a black and a white hackle for what would probably be the smallest “whisky and soda” ever tied. Hey, worth trying if for no other reason!
A “Reed Smut” is another tiny black midge pattern that might be worth a try (body is black seal fur, grizzle hackle: hook as small as you can stand it).
I think ny angler’s idea of a soft hackle, size 22, would be worth a try. If these micro caddis have clear wings, then I would try black bodied and light partridge hackle. If they have darker wings, then black bodied and woodcock hackle (or the chesnut brown wing feather from a male pheasant). Wax your thread before tying the body to help make it water resistant, and it should (tied on a dry fly hook) float in the surface flim. These could be dead drifted as the current should impart enough movement in the hackle for you.
That’s about all I can think of, and I suspect you’ve tried variations of all of this already. When trout become selective and keyed in on something, it can be painful trying to figure out what it is.
You know what just struck me? What if “smaller” is wrong? These fish are keying in on clusters of these micro caddis, not just one. A cluster is probably quite a large area that makes a lot of “surface dimples” from the trout’s point of view. I suggest you try a size 12 “whisky and soda”, the one black and one white hackle palmered tightly up the hook shank. That will create a buzz of black and white on the surface (which may represent a bunch of motion), with a large surface area of the water “dimpled” as if by so many little feet!
I’ve got a funny feeling that this might just work. Then again, it could be that I just need my morning coffee!
- Jeff
Hey Jeff, those sound like great ideas. I tied up some size 18-20 patterns that sound like that “whiskey and soda” pattern. I used a black and medium dun hackle and that little thing seems to bounce and flop pretty effectively. I haven’t tried it yet (hopefully this weekend) but it looks promising. You may be right about the cluster thing. Perhaps, tying some larger clusters could be a solution.
These little guys are maddening. When they swarm in the back eddies and flats, the fish go ballistic on them. I’ve tried for several years to solve the problem but so far it hasn’t worked well. I’ve caught fish but they’ve been more subtle takes rather than the slam they do on the naturals. I’m thinking a lot of it is the presentatiion too. Maybe, a more aggressive approach.
Thanks Again,
Phil
Almost forgot…that reed smut, is the hacke palmered or a collar?
[This message has been edited by pspaint (edited 12 July 2006).]
Hi pspaint,
Ooops, sorry. I even meant to mention that on the Reed Smut it’s a collar hackle. So, basically, it’s just a very tiny, black bodied, dry fly with grizzle hackle. The seal fur body, dubbed “loose”, makes legs and helps it float. Olive seal fur works well too.
The difficult part to imitate, which unfortunatley could be the trigger for the violent strikes on the naturals, is that with a real cluster, all the little dimples are swirling around in different directions : in and out and around, etc.
With an immitation, when we twitch them, the hackles all move more or less in the same direction. So it’s “random motion” verus “syncronous motion”. This could be why these clusters are so frustrating? If that’s true (and I’m probably wrong), perhaps the only solution is to try and drop a wee immitation into the middle of an active cluster. But in that case, the fish probably isn’t really taking your fly so much as your fly would be in the middle of a big ball of naturally occuring bait. I leave it to you to decide if this constitutes “cheating” or if it’s just good “presentation technique” 
- Jeff
If you are truly up against micro caddis, I’d recommend talking to Jan Broga from another site. Email me if you’d like further details. Ironically, the pattern, I believe, orginated on the Farmington(maybe the Delaware? Can’t recall…) with which Gary had alot of experience but I don’t recall it in any of his books. Perhaps another route the same results. Effective, however.
Jeff, I wouldn’t say that it’s cheating. Sounds like the age old technique of dapping. The problem would be getting into position without spooking them (the trout and the caddis). I think your right though, about the crazy motion they make and the difficulty mimicking it. There’s got to be a way though. Thanks for all your help, and if you don’t hear from me for a while, it means they threw me in the round room and told me to find the corners.lol.
Hi pspaint,
I’m hoping that if we don’t hear from you for a bit it’s because you found the solution and just won’t leave the river! If you do find anything that works, even if not perfectly, do let us know. I’m now at the stream with you and you are right, these little guys are fascinating and frustrating at the same time.
- Jeff
Jeff, that would be a much better reason for not reporting then saying “Hi folks, i’ve been away for a while, in a small comfortable room, drooling in a cup”.lol.
I’ll definitely give my report as soon as i’m able to try these tactics. Not sure about this weekend though, suppose to be really hot…YUCK! How’s the fishing down by you?
Hi,
My wife and I made it out to a nearby stream for a couple hours. The stream is always very discoloured, but it’s close to home and it is pretty nonetheless. Last weekend we had no luck, but the previous weekend she got two in the 15-20 cm range and I got 1 about 32 cm. It is always best when we “both win”; she for most fish, I for biggest fish, so that bragging rights are nicely distributed! ha!
My dad called the other day from Nova Scotia. A friend of his sent me a book on fly tying when my Dad came to visit a few months ago. I gave my dad some flies to take back to him as a thank you.
One of the flies was a small black midge pupae, tied on a size 16 scud hook. It’s a very simple thread midge pattern:
Hook: size 16 scud
tail: white fibres
body: black tying thread
rib : fine silver wire
thorax: red floss
head: peacock hurl
breathing filaments: white fibers
The last bit just means tie some white fibres sticking up from the peacock hurl head. The red thorax is just a turn or two of red floss to make a “hot spot” behind the hurl head.
Anyway, I’ve caught some decent fish here using this still water fishing. Dad was not convinced you could use anything so small (he’s used to atlantic salmon flies).
He gave these flies to his friend, who went out one day. Reached a spot where a bunch of fellows were having no luck. So, he tried this black midge pattern. He took 10 brookies while everone else there was skunked! Not only that, but I just got a message from my Dad telling me that his friend was out again and he caught another 27 fish on the same fly!
I get the feeling it is being taken as a mosquito lavae. I’ve never had that much luck with it, but I tell you, next clear and quite pool I come across on a hot day is going to have one of these dipped into it.
Maybe you could give it a try on your waters if the heat is bringing out the mosquitos? Just make sure you put your bug dope on.
- Jeff
Jeff,
I followed your thread midge pattern. Mind sharing just how you prefer to fish these flies?
Thanks,
Jeremy.