A Tale of Two Caddis

Well. It's been a long winter season.

Throughout the period since my last post I have been concentrating the majority of my fishing opportunities on the local coastal cutthroat in the streams in and around the lower mainland of BC. Unfortunately trips have been limited as one weather system after another has blown in off the Pacific and blown out the local waters. I could have switched over to swinging for steelhead, but I've got issues with rejection, and while the stillwaters fish slowly throughout the winter months here, my interest in honing my stream fishing technique has kept me focused on moving water.

Luckily the weather is slowly turning, and the frequency of the Pacific weather systems hammering our coast has slowly decreased. Over the past few weeks or so I've managed several short outings, and I'm gradually seeing increasing signs of insect life and fry movement. While the march browns (pictured at left) poked their antennae above the waters surface as early as February this year, it is only with the warming sun that the fish have begun to shake off the lethargy of the winter months and really begin to get aggressive about feeding.

This talk of insects and activity brings me to the subject for this entry: imitating net building and free living caddis larvae. These two caddis types are quite ubiquitous on on almost all streams along BC's south coast, and for that matter on most of the cleaner cold water streams around the world. The fact that they are a protein rich food item available year round can not be overlooked when it comes to creating and carrying effective fly patterns.

On a recent trip to the river I took the time to turn over a few rocks and examine some specimens. I have done this numerous times before, but it almost always pays to reacquaint yourself with the real insect before sitting down a the bench to do a little tying. Starting from this basis it becomes much easier to look at designing an effective imitation or at least a suggestive one. Of course other considerations impact the features you incorporate into a fly, not the least of which is the target water and species--for example, targeting cutthroat in a reasonably brisk, deeply stained brown/olive stream with relatively good visibility, shallow riffles, rock weirs and long pools (in short, my local water).

I tend to rely on two styles of flies when fishing net building or free living caddis nymphs. Both involve the use of weight to present the flies at or near the bottom of the water column, both rely on similar colour schema to match the natural, and both utilize a scud style nymph hook to match the natural curved orientation of the drifting insect. Where they differ is in the profile and application.

First up is the somewhat imitative fly shown next to the natural at right. This fly, very much a standard Czech nymph, does what a good Czech nymph should do-i.e. its narrow profile cuts through the water quickly and once there rides point up. It's also fairly realistic and works well in the slightly deeper water at the pool heads and along the seams where a long controlled drift is sometimes called for. The colour pattern seems to work well, balancing the flashy kelly green rib against the somber dark olive squirrel for a fly that is neither too bright or too dark.

The fly at left, again pictured with the the natural, employs very much the same materials as the preceding one with the addition of a small gold tungsten bead and a silver badger hackle. I call this a White Water Caddis, but the pattern is very generic and similar to many coming from the benches of western North American fly tyers. I say "western" fly tyers, because in the words of one such tyer, "in the American West we fish a lot of tumbling, sometimes roaring waters. A normal day on a mountain stream or canyon river can be as much about the exercise as about the fishing." In such waters a strong attractive profile, particularly for smaller flies, is often called for. This fly follows that mold and its rough exterior and hackle provide that extra dose of movement as it's pulled through the white water riffles and into foaming plunge pools.

Well. There you have it--a tale of two caddis, or rather a tale of one caddis and two flies. My point is not to suggest that one is better than the other (in fact both took an equal number of fish on my last outing in different water), the point is that by drawing together the disparate elements of observed insects and conditions, an understanding of the physical characteristics of various materials and constructions, and an almost intuitive sense of what fish key on, you can design (or choose) a fly style which will match the situation at hand... and by grace, catch you a few bright beauties.

Aaron

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Net Spinner Czech Nymph

• Hook: #18-#14 Mustad 49s
• Underbody: Flattened .015" lead wire (2 layers)
• Thread: 12/0 Olive
• Over rib: 0X Fluorocarbon
• Shellback: Olive scud-back
• Rib: Kelly green mylar embroidery material
• Body: Dark olive squirrel dubbing
• Thorax: Black synthetic dubbing (cut short)
• Tint: Olive pantone marker on body shellback, black over thorax

White Water Caddis

• Hook: #18-#16 Mustad 49s
• Bead: Gold or black tungsten 3/32"
• Underbody: .015" Lead wire (6-8 wraps behind bead)
• Thread: 12/0 Olive
• Rib: Kelly green mylar embroidery material
• Body: Dark olive squirrel dubbing
• Hackle: Coq de leon hen (silver badger)
• Thorax: as body (to hide thread)