The Caddis Fly is one among several families of water-borne insects imitated by the fly fisherman in his avid pursuit. The Caddis is able to withstand dirty and contaminated waters better than other insects. It thrives in well-oxygenated water, but does well in slower warmer water conditions as well. Among water-borne insects of interest to the fly fisherman, it is the most versatile and most adaptive. Consequently it is a common, available, and dependable food source for fish and routinely imitated by the fly fisherman. Caddis fly hatches begin in mid-May, and still bring fish to the hook through the end of November. The subsurface stages of the Caddis are wonderful fish producers year round.
The Elk-hair Caddis is listed by most published gurus as one of the six most popular dry flies used across the nation in pursuit of the wily trout. With its hollow elk-hair down-wing and palmer-wound hackle it floats like a cork, is extremely durable, and presents a wonderful silhouette of the Caddis either at rest or flitting on the surface. It functions superbly both as a realistic imitation of the adult Caddis Fly, and as an attractor pattern which works miraculously even when there are no adult insects on the water.
My favorite colors are olive, tan, and gray which pretty well cover the range of medium-sized Caddis commonly imitated by the fly fisherman. In the Western States, olive is the prevalent color during the month of June, and tan Caddis' are more common during the summer and fall months. The gray Elk-hair Caddis is a wonderful fly to turn to when the fish seem to be extremely finicky, and in situations where color is less pronounced. I also tie this pattern in yellow or light chartreuse to imitate some of the smaller stone-flies that hatch on our Western streams throughout the summer. Caddis flies come in varying sizes. The ones commonly imitated and purchased by fly fishermen range in sizes between 14 and 18, with size 16 being the most common go-to choice.
Caddis flies are easily recognized by their tent-wing profile at rest, and by their bouncing, erratic flight as they group together near the river banks in the shade of trees and bushes especially on windless mornings and evenings. You can always tell fish are feeding on Caddises by their splashy rises and desperate leaps into the air after an escaping bug.
A Caddis hatch may last a couple of exciting and fruitful hours but there are some productive practices you can implement to extend your fruitful fishing time and increase the number of fish you catch:
1. Prior to and during the hatch, fish are voraciously feeding on emerging insects, and often choose them over the adult fly The adult Caddis often only pause on the surface for a few seconds before taking flight. By adding a trailing emergent pattern about a foot behind your dry fly, you will double the number of fish you hook, and sometimes your dropper will out-fish your Elk-hair Caddis. I tie my emergent patterns with an antron-yarn shuck about half the length of the body, an antron-dubbed body with gold-wire ribbing, and partridge- hackle wings about half body length.
2. When the hatch ends you will see no more adult flies on the water, but there will still be fish rising and sipping cripples and stillborn Caddis. The rise form changes from splashy rises to barely detectable rings in the water, and you no longer see fish in the air or on the surface. Those fishermen who continue to fish their elk-hair Caddis become really frustrated at the sudden failure of their flies. To convert your elk-hair Caddis to a flush surface-film fly simply trim off the bottom hackles of your palmer-hackled imitation. You can use scissors or your nail clippers to do this. Fish it dead drift.
An even better solution is to use a partridge-spent wing, peacock-body Caddis with the palmer-wound hackle tied one hook size smaller than normal. For example, a size 16 fly would be tied with a size 18 hackle. The partridge feather wings are tied extending back and out at a 45-degree angle, and afford a more realistic wing profile than does elk-hair. The smaller hackle will permit the fly to ride flush in the surface film, better imitating the cripples and stillborn. I've fished these patterns long after the hatches have terminated, and have still been catching fish at 11 pm when I couldn't even see my fly!
3. One final suggestion is to fish a Renegade in the appropriate fly size. It does a wonderful job imitating emerging Caddis flies when fished downstream as a wet fly or stripped subsurface on a lake. Its a wonderful dry fly imitation when floated on the surface dry-fly fashion, and it does a pretty good job imitating the cripples and stillborn Caddis when hung downstream submerged. One nice way to fish a Renegade is to cast quartering upstream floating it as a dry fly, and then letting the current drag it under as it swings downstream and stripping it slowly back as a wet fly. As the Renegade hits the end of the float below you, it will be dragged by the current to the surface, and appear to the fish as an emerging Caddis, triggering the strike. For lake fishing and for specifically imitating the emerging Caddis, I eliminate the gold tinsel on the butt of my Renegade and add a gold bead head for weight.
FISH TALES:
As a newcomer to flyfishing and the famous Henry's Fork of the Snake River near St. Anthony, Idaho over forty years ago, I recall fishing a stretch on the river near my home during a July evening. Downstream from me were two associates who would later become nationally known fly-tiers and guides. They were catching a couple of fish and having a great evening. Upstream from me another neighbor seemed to be catching fish every cast. He was even catching fish two at a time. He was fishing two Renegades, casting them upstream as dry flies and finishing their float as rising wet flies at the end of his cast. I became well acquainted with this man, who fished successfully on all of our area waters using virtually no other patterns.
Ten years later, I was fishing on the Railroad Ranch also known as Harriman State Park, that nationally famous stretch of water described as a giant spring creek which brings the nations most experienced and well-traveled fishermen to test their metal against these fish with phd's in entomology. It was opening day on the ranch, there must have been thirty fishermen in the river around me with only a college boy and his neophyte girlfriend catching any fish. The fellow was helping her cast out toward the middle of the river. She would then hold onto the rod and let it float down and hang in the current below her. I watched, amazed, as the unlikely duo hooked about six fish. Their simple answer lay in a Renegade fly fished in a very unschooled manner.
During the winter months I have fished many streams and ponds in hopes of catching a wily fish on a fly in spite of iced-up guides and inclement weather conditions. For many years, I experimented with snow flies (midges) and various woolly-bugger patterns in pursuit of cold-blooded fish. In fishing Henry's Fork near Ashton, I befriended a retired doctor who spent two or three days a week for years during the winter months on Henry's Fork. He always out-fished everyone else on the river. His secret was a size-10 Renegade draped down-stream with a little bit of weight into the deepest holes around.
I have shared those successes on many occasions and in many circumstances since. You can't beat a Renegade and a Caddis. When you go fishing, have some in your fly box and make sure they get attached to your line during the trip. You'll be glad you did! Now you know all the tricks of constructing and fishing the Caddis, put down your papers and go catch fish. Remember: Catch and Release if you want to increase your numbers!
Tight lines! John
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