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The caddisflies are to the lake fly-fisher
what the mayflies are to the river angler. The caddisfly
hatch offers more exciting dry fly fishing on lakes
than any other. That’s not to say that many rivers and
streams don’t have great hatches too, but the caddisfly
hatch is number one on most lakes. In this, the third
article in the series on trout foods and the patterns
that imitate them, we will delve into the lifecycle
of the caddisfly, or sedge, as we Canadians often call
them.
Caddisflies undergo complete metamorphosis just like
the midges do; there is a larva, pupa and an adult stage.
To start things off, we will begin in very early spring
when the eggs are still lying on the river or lake bottom.
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There are three kinds of mayfly nymphs, depending upon which
species we are talking about. There are clinger, crawler, and
swimmer nymphs. The clingers cling tightly to the rocks on the
bottom and are almost never available to the trout until the
hatch. The crawlers crawl along the rocks and often get washed
off and swept downstream. The swimmers are always moving about
and they too are swept around by the current. Both the crawlers
and swimmers are available to the trout all winter and spring.
Patterns to imitate the mayfly nymphs are plentiful, but
their general shape remains fairly constant. One of the best,
and best known, mayfly nymph imitations is the Gold Ribbed
Hare’s Ear. This pattern has been a standard for decades and
continues to produce. Below are the instructions on how to
tie the pattern:
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As winter closes and spring
arrives the ice comes off, waters start to warm and the
caddisfly eggs hatch into a larvae. There are two distinct
types of caddisflies and therefore two distinct larvae.
One is a web-spinning caddisfly and the other is a case-building
caddisfly. |
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Web-Spinning Caddis Pupa:
| Hook: #12 to 16, Mustad 9671 |
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| Thread: Black or green monocord |
| Tail: none |
| Abdomen: Dubbed green
wool, floss, or larva lace |
| Ribbing: Black monocord |
| Body: Dubbed fur from hare's mask |
| Hackle: Short white polar
bear or calf tail |
| Thorax: Dubbed fur including guard
hairs from hare's mask |
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Fly Tying Instructions:
- Tie on the thread; tie in the black monocord for the rib.
- Form a dubbing loop or tie in the wool, and wrap the material
forward over 2/3rds of the hook shank.
- Tie off and trim the excess.
- Form a dubbing loop or tie in the brown wool or seal.
- Wrap forward to the head.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Tie in a short length of white calf tail perpendicular
to the hook shank.
- X it in.
- Tie it off and trim the excess.
- Whip finish head and cement.
The case-building caddis hatches from the egg and crawls
along the bottom collecting tiny sticks, branches, and gravel
and glues this material around its abdomen and thorax to make
a case. It looks much like a tiny hermit crab. Once the case
is built the insect carries on crawling and feeding. When
the time comes for this larva to pupate it draws itself into
the case and seals the top. It then undergoes metamorphosis
and emerges as the pupa. Trout feed on these cased caddis
just as readily as they do the web-spinning larvae. If you
catch an early spring trout, especially in a river or stream,
you can usually feel and hear the gravel in its stomach from
the cases when you pick it up if you cradle it in your hand.
A great imitation of the cased caddis is described below:
Cased Caddis Pattern:
| Hook: #6 to 14, Mustad 9671 (Can
be weighted) |
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| Thread: Black or green monocord |
| Tail: none |
| Hackle: Sparse black hen hackle |
| Abdomen: Dubbed green wool, floss,
or larva lace |
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Fly Tying Instructions:
- Tie on the thread and wrap to the butt of the hook.
- Tie in the lead if you plan to weight the fly.
- Tie in the silver chenille.
- Dub onto the chenille strands of mohair.
- Wrap the chenille forward 2/3rds of the way up the shank.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Tie in the green wool.
- Wrap to the head.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Tie in, at the tip, one black hen hackle.
- Wrap 2 or 3 turns.
- Tie off and trim the excess.
- Whip finish the head and cement.
The key to effectively fishing either of the caddis larvae
is to ensure you get the fly on the bottom. Fishing a caddis
larva seems to be more effective in moving water than in lakes
and a dead drift presentation right along the bottom works
best.
Whether it is a web-spinning or case-building species of
caddisfly, when they emerge from their transformation the
pupae look basically the same. They have long abdomens with
their wings, legs, and antennae flowing down and back towards
their rear. They also have very long swimmeret legs with hairy
ends that the pupae use like oars to quickly swim to the surface
after they emerge from their cocoons on the bottom. Old Bill
Nation designed an excellent fly pattern to imitate the pupae.
It is known as Nation’s Green Sedge and works as well today
as in yesteryear. Below is how you tie it.
Nation's Green Sedge:
| Hook: #8 to 16, Mustad 94840 |
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| Thread: Grey pre-waxed |
| Tail: Brown hackle fibres |
| Ribbing: None |
| Body: Olive Brown antron yarn |
| Wingcase:Dun hackle fibres. |
| Head: None |
| Thorax: Same as abdomen |
| Legs: Dun hackle fibres |
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Fly Tying Instructions:
- Tie in the thread and wrap to the butt.
- Tie in the tinsel (if you want a rib).
- Form a dubbing loop and dub on the olive body material.
- Wrap forward to the head forming a fairly fat body.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Wrap tinsel forward to form the ribbing.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Tie in the mallard flank overwing about 11/2 times as
long as the hook shank.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Tie in one long fibre badger hackle.
- Wrap 2-3 times and tie off.
- Trim excess.
- Whip finish the head and cement.
Once the pupa cuts its way out of the cocoon it immediately
heads for the surface using its swimmerets to propel itself.
The swimmerets pump like little oars and give the insect a
very distinctive fast, pumping motion. To fish your imitation
effectively in lakes you must get the fly down deep using
a fast-sink or extra fast-sink line and retrieve the fly using
quick, short strips. In rivers you can use short down and
across casts, allow the fly to sink a bit and then use the
drag of the current to draw the fly to the surface like the
natural. In either case hang onto your rod because the trout
usually hit the rising pupa hard.
Once at the surface the pupa immediately cuts its way out
of the pupal shuck and emerges as the adult sedge. They look
like moths at first, but you can distinguish them from moths
and other insects by the way they hold their wings folded
tent-like back over their abdomens. The adults flutter, run,
and bounce around on the surface of the water until their
wings are dry enough to keep them airborne and then they fly
off into the bushes to mate. Once that business is done the
females return to the water’s surface to lay their eggs. The
running and fluttering activity on the surface attracts just
about every trout in the water, especially at dusk, and the
rise to the running caddisflies is violent and unnerving.
Often a fish will appear to strike at the fly when actually
the trout will slash or jump out of the water and land on
top of the insect to slow it down by drowning it. Then the
fish will immediately return and eat the morsel. Keep this
in mind when fishing the dry caddis hatch. You should learn
to hesitate before setting the hook to see if your fly has
actually been mouthed, or if the fish simply slapped it and
left it. If the latter is the case stay prepared because the
trout will be back in a split second to take the fly.
Below is the Elk Hair Caddis (or deer hair caddis) which
is still one of the best imitations of the adult caddisfly.
I often tie this pattern with a clipped body of spun deer
hair instead of the antron or wool standard. Clipped bodies
float a lot better than dubbed ones, and spun deer hair is
much more durable than a tied down deer hair body such as
that of the Tom Thumb (another pattern that is used extensively
to imitate the dry caddis).
Elk Hair (Deer Hair) Caddis:
| Hook: #6 to 16, Mustad 94840 |
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| Thread: To match natural body colour |
| Tail: None |
| Ribbing: None |
| Body: Dubbed wool or spun deer hair
dyed to colour |
| Wing: 1 long (variant length) ginger
and 1 short (standard length) furnace hackle |
| Rib: None or palmered furnace or
ginger hackle |
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Fly Tying Instructions:
- Tie in thread.
- Wrap to butt.
- Tie in hackle.
- Form a dubbing loop.
- Dub on the body material and wrap forward to head forming
fairly fat body.
- Tie off and trim excess Palmer the hackle forward over
the body.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Tie in the deer hair wing.
- Avoid flaring it too much.
- Wing should lie tent-like over the back of the fly.
- Tie off and trim excess.
- Whip finish and cement the head.
Other patterns that work very well are the Mikaluk Sedge
and the Goddard Caddis.
Fishing caddisflies is easy, especially the adult stage.
In a good hatch when the rise is strong almost any fly on
the surface will be eaten, yet I have seen situations during
a light hatch when the exact size, shape, colour, and motion
were necessary to convince a fish to strike. Matching the
hatch as best you can often pays big dividends when fishing
the caddis hatch, both when fishing the pupa and the dry adult.
Do yourself a big favour and pay close attention to details
when tying up flies to match the natural insects in all their
life stages, but pay particular attention to the pupa. I have
seen innumerable refusals to pupa imitations that just weren’t
quite right, yet I have changed flies and cast out again to
the same cruising fish only to have it slam into the fly with
no hesitation when the only difference between the refused
pattern and the one taken was a slight colour variation in
the thorax.
Keep a small assortment of caddis pupae and dries in your
boxes at all times. The naturals are around from early spring
through into the fall. The major hatches occur late May through
early July, depending upon where you fish, but a few pop up
all summer long and the trout will often recognise them and
eat them opportunistically. When all else fails, tying on
a caddis pupa and trolling it around can often result in a
fish or two. Give it a try.
Bill Luscombe has been hunting and fishing for most of his
42 years. He has been flyfishing for 20 years. He instructs
flyfishing, and has done so for the past 12 years. He also
instructs the federal FSET firearms course and the BC CORE
hunter training course. He is an award-winning outdoor writer
and has been writing freelance since 1987. He has been published
in BC Sport Fishing Magazine, Outdoor Edge, BC Outdoors, Western
Sportsman, Island Fish Finder, and the BC Hunting Guide.
Bill Luscombe was born an army brat and raised in Ladner
(Delta, BC) where he was raised hunting waterfowl and pheasants.
He presently resides in North Cowichan on southern Vancouver
Island where he has lived and worked full time as a professional
forester since 1982.
He presently works in Nanaimo for the BC Forest Service and
continue to write the fly-fishing column for BC Sport Fishing
Magazine as well as contributing articles freelance to various
outdoor magazines in western Canada. Bill Luscombe is also
a BC Director of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association.
"Catching fish is not hard. You simply need to understand
what makes them tick. If you think like a fish, you will catch
fish. It’s as simple as that."- Bill Luscombe
Previous Articles by Bill Luscombe:
To visit saltwater flyfishing patterns by Bill Luscombe,
visit:
For more information about Bill Luscombe and his available
courses visit his home page at:
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