I had an enjoyable dinner last night at the Sole Proprietor in Worcester with my friend Brad who appears to have decided to brave this god awful January here in New England instead of his normal haunts in the U.S. Virgin Islands. A brave man! He asked me to bring some pin heads and a caddis emerger pattern that I had posted about. I brought the pin heads but was a bit confused about this caddis. He described it and then the lights went on. This is a good pattern that I should be fishing more often on riffle environments because it does really work. How do I know enough to make this statement? Here's the answer.
Backcast to the late 1980's. I'm working the Deerfield River at the Cold River junction with a friend Rick Flamatti. I am catching fish but he is really catching fish. It is almost obscene regarding his catch rate and his position isn't really any different than mine. Soooo I asked to see his fly. It's simple and it looks like a caddis.
Hook - size 10 to 14 scud hook
Body - fuzzy dark grey or light grey natural fur like rabbit or beaver. Make it fuzzy
Hackle - some wisps of grouse/partridge, not too heavy.
Collar - brown or black ostrich tied over the hackle
Fish this on freestone rivers that have lots of large/midsize caddis in May and June (Millers). Fish it anyway you want but when you see the first of those dull caddis in the air don't go dry fly, go this fly!!
NOTE: Did some research on this blog and found that I had written about this pattern about five years ago and the posts are almost identical. Sorry for repeating myself. I'll blame Brad for getting me to think about this fly. It's a good fly!!
Think Spring and hit the Swift when the weather is good.
Ken
6 comments:
The Sole has some good chow Ken - glad you enjoyed it!
those caddis remind me tremendously of the Muskrat Nymph. It was one of Fran Betters awesome creations and is a really great fly tied with and without a bead. That caddis you posted just really reminds me of it!
Happy New Year
Will
Will,
Fran Betters created some great flies. The Haystack, Ausable Wulff
and the Usual came from him. Great flies that don't like to sink.
Ken
Fished the Upper Swift. Very few fish visible and they're extremely wary and moving slowly. No action on drifted eggs, scuds, and "Marabares."
Landed a 15" rainbow with a streamer and repeated casts. Move the fly too slowly and the fish lost interest. Retrieve too quickly and the fish veered off, not wanting to spend energy on a low-probability meal.
Beautiful surrounds, however, and was good to be outside and enjoy the scenery.
Joe,
Did you fish today (Saturday) or yesterday? I was very busy yesterday clearing snow and doing nagging chores. Today I have a date with the Patriots. Sunday looks good with the temperature kissing the freezing mark. Think I'll go then. Also working up tiny CDC patterns for that day when the temperatures kiss 40 degrees.
Glad you connected with those frozen bows!
Ken
Will you be attending the Marlborough Show? Is it worth going to?
Scott
Scott,
Nope. I used to go every other year. Now it's been three years seen I've gone. I feel I've seen it all before. If your fairly new to the sport it can be a good time.
Ken
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