Another “oldie” (I’m dating myself here) developed in the 80’s by Nelson Ishiyama, owner of Henry’s Fork Lodge. I remember seeing the fly in an old copy of FlyFisherman Magazine and thought it’d be fun to tie some up. Five materials (including hook and thread) is all it takes to make a fly that floats pretty well and gets the fish’s attention; I’ll take that any day.
hook - Dai Riki 320 #16
thread - Uni 8/0 tan
butt - dubbing ball tan
body - dubbing tan (3 segments)
wing - deer hock (3 segments)
hackle - barred cream
note - I think the original had hackle stem antennae; please feel free to add if you like
Mash down barb and start thread at 75% point on shank
add a small bit of dubbing to make a butt bump
cut a small clump of deer hair (keep it fairly sparse), comb out underfur, clip to length (a bit longer than the hook gap) and tie in 1st wing segment
dub next body segment
add next wing segment
dub again
add last wing segment
prep hackle; love this barred cream from Charlie Collins, kind of a washed out cree
tie in (make sure you have a smooth thread base for the hackle)
wrap hackle forward, tie off, clip, have Sally pay a visit and you’re done (I’ve trimmed the hackle flush on the bottom on occasion but chose to leave it intact here)
Change body, wing, hackle colors to suit your needs. Pretty easy to tie (doesn’t leave me mumbling incoherently and weeping like a Goddard Caddis does); a neat fly that never got it’s due.
Nicely done, Scott!! I was in Paradise Valley in July and saw caddis just this color and size by the thousands. Can’t wait to tie some up for next year. Just one question: for the wing it looks like you are trying to make the hair tips end at approximately the same place. In other words, the second hair clump slightly longer than the first, and the third clump a bit longer than the second. Is that correct?
Thanks and good fishing,
Arnie
Actually, that 2nd clump is a hair long (pun intended) and probably should be a little bit shorter. I’d like to keep them all consistent length to get a bit of a staggered wing; looks like I got the 3rd clump right. Been a while since I’ve tied one so there’s always kinks to work out; I’m sure it’d fish okay.
Scott,
That pattern reminds me of the British sedgehog style. I don’t know which came first nor is that my point. Apparently it works in the UK as well as the US. Thanks for doing the SBS post for us.
There’s also a larger version that’s very similar, the Mikulak Sedge. I tied up some of those beasts for the Traveling Sedge hatch on the Blackfeet Reservation lakes; pretty cool seeing those big bugs running across the water, seemed to get the trout worked up a bit.
Scott,
If this is not germane, please let me know and I will delete it. It is just that the tying method is so similar to “Nick’s Stonefly” of Blue Ribbon Flies that I thought I would ask if you have seen that fly?
With all the good tyers out there, I’m sure there’s plenty of cross-pollination; everyone benefits. I’ve seen Mr. Nicklas’ Sunken Stone; cool pattern. Never fished one since I’ve only been lucky enough to hit the emergence a couple times; used a bullethead this year.
