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Jun 03, 2021

Pete's Caddis Chronicles

There are more caddis fly patterns than any one person could fish properly in a lifetime. And they’ll all catch fish. I’ve tied and fished many caddis bugs, but there are a few that produce on a different level. I’d like to discuss a few of those patterns and why they have a special place in my fly box.

     Let’s begin with the Cased Caddis by Gary LaFontaine. Simple, realistic and puts fish in the net all day. Gary was a true student of bug behavior and how trout interacted to key features during insect life cycle stages. That brings us to his Deep Sparkle Pupa. This iconic pattern features Antron to replicate the shiny air bubble produced by gasses freeing an exoskeleton. That little difference from a standard pupa absolutely made the difference on enough days to become a mainstay. I’d like to mention the Emerger Sparkle Pupa by Gary as well. When it comes to catching fish you are flat out missing a ton of opportunities if you neglect the emerger patterns. This one happens to be simple and produces fish.

     Now for one of the bugs I love to hate, the Goddard Caddis. On the other side of the pond this fly is more commonly known as the G. and H. Sedge. That name is the culmination of John Goddard and Cliff Henry. The fly was designed and tied by Goddard who had many great patterns, but none as well known as this beauty. Not the easiest of flies because of the daunting task of spinning hair, but once you become proficient they are one of the most fun dry flies you can toss. Floats all day and has the perfect profile for skinny water and picky fish. Priceless.

     For a jump to a modern fly that will undoubtedly go down in tying history as a classic is the Kryptonite Caddis by Juan Ramirez. I’ve fished this fly during hatches and as far from them as you can get. The result is the same. You catch fish. Not much better than a relatively simple fly that catches anytime, anywhere, but also connects to new fly fishers and fishing youth. Anyone can look at Juan’s bug, see anything buggy whatsoever in the water and almost instantly make the connection between fish and food source. That vaults Juan’s Kryptonite Caddis to the top of any list.

     Of course I’m going to mention the Elk Hair Caddis by Al Troth. Even most non fly fishers know this true icon. Not much needs to be said about this fly except for me it connects the history of tying to the newer tyers and fishers. It’s a simple enough fly to encourage beginners with enough room for variants to challenge any pro. And it’s caught millions of fish. Enough said.

     I’ll finish my Caddis rant with the Beadhead Caddis Pupa. I’m not sure in the long list of tyers who gets credit for this fly, but for this example I’m picturing the bug described by Dave Hughes in his book Trout Flies. Hook, bead, some dubbing, hackle and wire if you’re feeling extravagant. Workhorse type of fly that you can easily crank out by the dozens and never have to wonder if you’ll find fish. That’s a fly worth putting in the rotation.

     Thanks for playing along. There are so many great caddis patterns that didn’t get highlighted this time, but perhaps we’ll revisit the Caddis Chronicles and delve a bit deeper. Until then go try some new patterns at the vise and on the water. The more you know, the more you know.

May 26, 2021

Diving Caddis

The caddis have started fluttering and you've probably caught a few fish with some Elk Hair Caddis or younger versions of the bug. But what do you toss when the adult females are diving beneath the water's surface to oviposit their eggs? You toss a Diving Caddis! This fly features the slotted tungsten Spawn Football Bead to get down in a hurry where the fish are waiting. The Spawn UV Simi Seal egg clutch will finish enough of the narrative for any fish to recognize a tasty meal. Thanks for tying along and enjoy the sore shoulder from all the hook sets!

Materials List:

Hook: Daiichi 4647 size 12

Bead: Spawn Football Bead 5.5mm silver

Weighted Wire: NL .020

Thread: UniThread 6/0 Camel

Egg Clutch: Spawn UV Simi Seal Chartreuse Green

Body: Spawn Simi Seal Ghost Shrimp

Rib: Brassie Silver Wire

Wing: Hareline Bleached Elk Hair

Cement: Loon Hard Head

Step 1: Slip a Spawn Football Bead onto your hook with the hook point going through the small hole first. Now secure the hook in your vise.

Step 2: Add 10 wraps of .020 non lead wire to your hook shank. Before sliding the wire behind the bead, it is useful to add a small amount of superglue gel to the wraps that will fit inside the bead. A small amount is all you need. This will help position the bead and prevent turning.

Step 3: Now begin your thread on the hook shank. Use 3 passes back and forth to cover the weighted wire wraps and then take your thread to the hook bend.

Step 4: Add a small amount of Spawn UV Chartreuse Simi Seal and twist enough on your thread to have a thin dubbing noodle roughly 2 inches long. Now wrap your egg sac using three tight wraps back and three wraps forward, repeating this process until you have a tight, secure egg sac. If you try to make a ball of wraps on top of one another your dubbing will be loosened and look nothing like a little clutch of eggs.

Step 5: Now we will tie in our ribbing wire. This should butt up against the rear side of the weighted wire and be tied back all the way to the egg sac. Once it's securely tied in bring your thread toward the hook eye leaving a space roughly two hook eyes in length behind the bead. This is where we will begin our body and will ensure we leave enough room for the wing.

Step 6: Now add enough Spawn Ghost Shrimp Simi Seal to your thread to form a 4 inch dubbing noodle. We will wrap this back all the way to the egg sac and back to our beginning position. If you have some unruly fibers feel free to trim them, but leaving a few scraggly fibers has been known to entice a fish or two.

Step 7: Now wind your ribbing thread to the front of the fly in 4-5 evenly spaced turns. For this fly the wire won't show much, but it will add a ton of strength and longevity to your bug. Once you've reached the front of the fly tie off the wire, bend it back and trim the excess. If you leave just a bit of material after bending the wire back it provides the perfect little tie down section and prevents the wire from being able to pull free after just a bite or two.

Step 8: Now it's time for the wing. Use a clump of elk hair roughly one half the thickness of a pencil. Clean out the bottom fuzz and stack the hair if you're using a stacker. Tie the clump of elk hair on the top of the fly, which on a jig hook makes it just a bit more interesting. Watch those fingers! Your thread wraps should be overlapping slightly as you keep constant tension and wrap toward the back. If you make 8-9 wraps of thread in this manner and have kept a good pinch in your off tying hand your hair wing will be securely on top of the hook shank every time. Before we trim the hair butts we will take 3-4 turns of thread between the hair butts and the bead. After making those thread wraps return the thread to the thread neck we just made while tying down the wing.

Step 9: Now we can trim the butt ends to sit even with the top of the hook eye. Add two whip finishes and trim your thread. Seal the thread wraps with Loon Hard Head or cement of your choice. This fly not only mimics a very important part in the caddis' life cycle, but it's also a great way to become more comfortable with hair wings. Thanks for tying along and be sure to show us your flies!

May 12, 2021

Bugmeister Variant

It's time to put some extra tough dries in the fly box. The Bugmeister and Stimulator are both bugs that will produce fish and stand up to the constant chewing. This variant definitely floats like a cork and the fish love it as a caddis, stonefly or moth depending on colors and wing length. Once we begin you will see this fly includes most of the techniques shared with the Elk Hair Caddis and X-Caddis as well. Thanks for tying along and enjoy shaking hands with more fish!

Materials List:

Hook- Tiemco 2312 size 12

Thread- UniThread Camel 6/0

Body- Spawn Simi Seal UV Steelhead Torch

Tail/Wings- Nature's Spirit Elk Rump Brown Drake

Hackle- Whiting Farms Saddle Hackle Feather Grizzly

Cement- Loon Hard Head

Step 1: After placing your hook securely in the vise, begin your thread. Wrap down past the hook point a few wraps and then return the thread to roughly even with the hook point. This will make it easier when we add our tail.

Step 2: Stack a small amount of elk hair, roughly 1/3 pencil thickness. Tie this on top of the hook so the tail extends a healthy 1/3 hook length. When you wrap down to the previous thread wraps the hair will splay and add some lift as well as stability to keep the fly keeling properly in faster water.

Step 3: Once you've trimmed the butt ends of the hair, add a dab of Loon Hard Head or cement of your choice before wrapping all the trimmed ends down. This is a good habit for any hair flies to increase durability.

Step 4: Make a very sparse dubbing noodle roughly 2.5 inches long. We will dub back to the hair and then back to in front of the hook point. This body section should be 1/3 the body length or slightly smaller. A very small amount of dubbing will go a long way.

Step 5: Now stack a clump of elk hair that is roughly double the thickness of the tail clump. We want to tie this clump of hair in so the tips reach somewhere between the end and halfway back of the tail section. You can see the angle used to cut the trim ends of hair. When I add some cement it will allow some to travel up the fibers before wrapping down with thread. This again helps keep that hair where it needs to be.

Step 6: After adding a small amount of cement wrap down all the hairs and be in position for the next 1/3 of the body.

Step 7: Repeat the dubbing process we did earlier. Remember to keep it sparse!

Step 8: Stack another clump of elk hair the same as for the previous wing. Again the ends will reach just shy of the last hairs ends. Make a nice trim to the butt ends, add a touch of cement and wrap down all the hairs securely.

Step 9: Now we need to prepare our hackle. This technique will use only one side of the hackle. We will remove the right side fibers as we are looking at the top, or convex side, with the tip of the feather at the top and base at the bottom. The space at the bottom is trimmed for our tie in. When using this style versus both sides of fibers there is much less bulk from trapped feather. This means you will will get 12-15 wraps of hackle! It floats like crazy and looks really impressive to your fishing buddies.

Step 10: Tie in the feather with the concave, or back side of the feather facing the hook. Leave just a bit of trimmed quill exposed for the beginning wrap since we still need to add dubbing. Leaving that small amount of trimmed quill will prevent those fibers that typically want to face rearward when you begin wrapping.

Step 11: Now very sparsely dub the head area. This provides some color, but it also acts a bit as a holder for the hackle. Remember, keep it sparse!

Step 12: Finally! Wrap that hackle! 12-15 turns should probably get that space more than full. Keeping enough room for a neat thread head, tie off the feather and add two whip finishes. Add some Loon Hard Head to the thread wraps, let dry and head directly to your nearest, willingest fish. Thanks for tying along!

Apr 28, 2021

Petes-First Down Dragon

Is there anything better than fishing a dragon or damsel hatch? There is! Now you can toss the fish a nymph with the new Slotted Tungsten Football Bead from Spawn Fly Fish. Bugginess counts in the fish game and this bead not only covers the aesthetics, it also gets down in a hurry. Trout and bass will both love eating this bug. With the Spawn Football Bead and the First Down Dragon you are always moving in the right direction. Thanks for tying along and we look forward to seeing what you design with the new beads!

Materials List:

Hook- Umpqua U555 size 10

Bead- Spawn Fly Fish Football Bead 5.5mm KG Olive

Weighted Wire- Non Lead .015

Thread- UNI 6/0 Olive

Tails and Legs- Grizzly Flutter Legs Black Barred Clear UV Pearl

Flash- Saltwater Flashabou Pearl Olive

Rib- Ultra Wire Chartreuse sz Brassie

Abdomen- Simi Seal Golden Olive

Body Skirt- Nature's Spirit Light Olive Mallard Flank

Thorax- Simi Seal Peacock

Loon Hard Head

Resin- Loon UV Clear Fly Finish Thin

Step 1: Place your bead on the hook with the hook point going through the small hole first. The most effective way to use the Spawn Football Bead is to have the slot facing upward. This will leave more weight under the hook shank for a more effective keel.

Step 2: Add 15 wraps of .015 non lead wire to the hook shank. Once you've cut and smoothed the wire edges, add a small amount of super glue gel or Zap-a-Gap to the wire and push into the back of the bead to secure in place. Once in position hold for just a few seconds to let the glue adhere. The key is to use a very small amount and not let it touch the hook shank. Makes a bond very quickly.

Step 3: Now begin your thread on the hook shank behind the wire wraps. Take 2-3 passes over the wire to cover and wrap down to where the hook begins to bend.

Step 4: Clip one full leg from a set. Tie this in at the middle of the leg and use figure 8 wraps to spread the tails to either side. If you clip the tails to body length the remaining pieces will be just right for our thoracic legs in a few steps.

Step 5: Tie in a piece of the ribbing wire so the end butts against the rear of the weighted wire wraps. Wrap securely all the way back to where our tails are tied in.

Step 6: Now tie in a piece of saltwater Flashabou on what will be the top of the fly. Be sure to wrap all the way back to the previous tie-ins.

Step 7: Add a thin layer of Simi Seal to your thread to form a noodle roughly 4". Beginning behind the weighted wire dub the abdomen back to the hook bend. Once you've reached the previous tie-ins, pull the wire forward and make one pass with your dubbed thread behind the ribbing wire. This will cover any thread from our tie in as well as preventing the wire from dislodging and dubbing when we wrap the rib. After that one pass behind the wire pull the wire back toward the rear of the fly and continue dubbing the abdomen to the front of the hook and you should end the abdomen where it began.

Step 8: Bring the Flashabou over the top of the abdomen. Tie down all the way to behind the bead, but do not cut the flash. We will use it later as a wing case.

Step 9: Now we will wrap the wire rib in 5-6 evenly spaced turns. Tie off and trim the excess wire. Cover the trimmed end with a few thread wraps.

Step 10: For our body skirt we will use a feather with fibers equal to the full body length of the fly. The purpose of the mallard is to add some mottling to the profile as well as some gentle movement. Trim the top portion of the feather as in the

photo.

Step 11: Tie in the feather where the abdomen ends. The inside, or concave side of the feather should be against the hook shank.

Step 12: Take two wraps of the feather making sure to keep all the fibers facing the rear of the fly with your off tying hand. Tie off the feather with 4-5 strong thread wraps before you trim the excess feather. Now you can see how that flash will blink at the fish in the water through the mottled fibers.

Step 13: In the space we've left for the abdomen we will now tie in our legs. Using the trimmed ends of our tails tie in one leg on each side of the hook shank. Keep these in the center of the thoracic space.

Step 14: Add enough Peacock Simi Seal to your thread to form a tight 3" dubbing noodle. Dub toward the back of the thorax, going between the legs, and then dub to the front in the same fashion. You should now be directly behind the bead.

Step 15: Pull the Flashabou over the thorax and tie down with 3-4 solid wraps of thread. Pulling the flash back over itself and taking two more thread wraps over before you cut will prevent the flash from slipping out after a fish hits it. Tie a neat thread collar and add two whip finishes. Add some Hard Head to the thread wraps. On top of the wing case add two layers of Loon Thin UV resin, curing after each layer. Thanks for tying the First Down Dragon and have a blast catching a bunch of fish!

Once you've tied down the cut end of the feather, pull back and tie down the Flashabou so it rests over the feather. This will now be our wing case.

Apr 14, 2021

Stone Fly w/ NEW Football Bead!

The new Spawn Football Bead really makes this fly work on two levels. First the bead's weight distribution puts this bug in the feeding zone right away. Secondly the added buginess of the football design screams DINNER to any fish nearby. Tie it in any color to match your local waters. I would recommend tying at least one in blue. You'll be glad you did. Thanks for tying along and we look forward to seeing the new flies you tie with the Spawn Football Beads!

Materials List:

Hook- Umpqua U555 Jig

Bead- Spawn Football Bead 5.5mm Black

Weighted Wire- Non Lead .015

Thread- UTC Peacock Blue 70 or 140

Uni 8/0 or 6/0 Doc Blue

Tails- Nature's Spirit Stripped Goose Biots Fluorescent Blue

Body/Abdomen- Small Blue UTC Wire

Brassie Silver UTC Wire

Legs/Flash- Krystal Flash Royal Blue

WIng Cases- Thin Skin Mottled Natural Bustard

Abdomen- Spawn UV Pacific Kingfisher Simi Seal

Loon Hard Head

Loon UV Clear Fly Finish Thin

Step 1:

Slip your Spawn Football Bead onto your hook before placing it into the vise. Add 12-15 wraps of .015 non lead wire. After cutting and smoothing the wire edges with your curved scissors, make sure your bead is oriented with the solid portion facing the ground and the open slot facing upward, or toward the rear of the hook. Carefully add a small amount of Super Glue Gel or Zap-A-Gap to the wire wraps that will push into the back of the bead. Slide the wire securely into the back of the bead and hold in the proper position for a few seconds to let the glue take hold.

Step 2: Begin your thread on the hook shank behind the weighted wire. Make a few passes over the wires to secure them in place. At this point i like to add a bit of Loon Hard Head to the thread covered wraps to ensure the least amount of movement. Take your thread back to just where it begins to bend. Apply a few figure 8 wraps on top of each other to form a small bump. This bump will help us keep our biot tails separate in the next step.

Step 3: Tie in two goose boots, each at roughly a 30 degree angle from the hook shank. The thread bump will help keep the biots angled away from each other. This is the underside of the fly, so we are seeing the concave, or bottom, of the biots. Once they are securely tied in trim the excess biots where they meet the weighted wire and finish wrapping down keeping a smooth underbody in mind.

Step 4:Now we will tie in our body wires. We will use 2 six inch pieces of Small Blue and one six inch piece of Brassie Silver. Tie thes in with the ends meeting the last wraps of weighted wire. Wrap them down all the way to where the tails are tied in. While still maintaining pressure on your last wrap of thread near the tail, gently bring all 3 wires into a 90 degree position before wrapping your thread forward. This will make your first wire wrap easier while preventing some of the tendency for the wires to want to slip on the first wrap. Bring your thread back to behind the bead.

Step: 5 Wrap all three wires at the same time up the hook shank as tightly as you can. Once you've wrapped 3/4 of the hook shank tie off and carefully trim the excess wire. Tie down the ends.

Step 6: Tie in a single piece of Krystal Flash on either side of the hook as the first set of legs. This first pair is roughly at the halfway point of the bug body. Don't worry too much about the angle of the flash. We will use some dubbing in the next step to position them.

The length of the legs should reach just past the base of our biot tails.

Step 7: Lots to cover in this step. First dub some Simi Seal on your thread in a thin, tight noodle roughly 2 inches. Wrap that dubbing in front and behind the flash legs to create the first thorax section. Now trim a piece of Thin Skin that is between the width of the body and the bead. Trim two similar pieces 1/2 inch long. Trim a crayon shaped tip in the end of one and tie it on top of the hook shank all the way against the dubbing we just added. This will prop up the wing case for that partially hatching aesthetic. Trim the Thin Skin to reach slightly past the dubbing section. We'll look at the next cut in step #8.

Step 8: Here you can see a simple V cut wil give the illusion of a split type stonefly wing case. You can trim as much or little as you wish, but this is my go to for stones.

Step 9: Now let's tie in our flash that will become our second and third pair of legs. Tie in a piece of flash of both sides of the hook that will run parallel to the first pair. Leave the longer trim ends going over the front of the hook. We will pull those back later as our third set of legs.

Step 10: Add more Simi Seal to your thread to form a 3 inch noodle. We will again wrap in front and in back of the second pair of legs so the underbody matches and the legs are propped into position. We need to keep just a bit of open space right behind the bead for our second wing case.

Step 11: Pull back both remaining pieces of flash and secure with a wrap of thread or two. Add the second trimmed piece of Thin Skin behind the bead exactly as we did for the first. After 5-6 good thread wraps you can trim off the excess Thin Skin on the bead side.

Step 12: As you can see we'll use the same V cut. The important part of this second wing is that it has to reach to a point of overlap with the first wing case. The fish will still eat it if it's slightly off, but for showing your friends it's worth 7 style points.

Step 13: Let's add another very thin inch and a half worth of dubbing on our thread and wrap a few times to cover the Thin Skin tie in. Add two secure whip finishes of at least 4 wraps each, trim your thread and cover the thread wraps with Loon Hard Head or cement of your choice.

Step 14: For some added reality to your bug and just a bit of strength for the wing cases you can carefully apply two very thin layers of Loon UV Clear Fly Finish Thin to each wing case. Cure between layers with your Loon UV Torch. This adds the most benefit where the last wing case and bead meet. Keeps those teeth off the thread for a few extra fish. Thanks for tying along!