Caddisflies

[Upstream]

Many years ago I acquired a copy of Caddisflies by Gary LaFontaine. For a few years I tied his patterns and tried to learn his techniques. My success was limited and I eventually went to a more generalized form of nymph fishing. Also, it seems that there is no lack of other philosophies on the subject of caddis fly patterns and techniques that can tend to muddy the water for the novice fly fisherman.
This winter, I decided to blow the dust off the book and I have a renewed interest in his work. Perhaps now years after my first experience, I will have better luck. I would be interested in hearing from anyone else on the forum who have read Gary's book, tied his patterns and used his techniques. What has been your experience?

 

[BradFromPotter]

The deep and emergent Sparkle Caddis Pupa are killer patterns. I would recommend them to anyone.

 

[Upstream]

The book contains so many color combinations for the pupa. Do you find certain colors work well in our neck of the woods?

 

[BradFromPotter]

Upstream wrote:
The book contains so many color combinations for the pupa. Do you find certain colors work well in our neck of the woods?

I usually tie them in olive & tan in sizes 12, 14, & 16.

 

[sandfly]

deep purple works to brad..

 

[afishinado]

Yup. Both the ESP & DSP work very well when caddis are hatching.

The "secret" is first to use the proper antron material dubbing (it's actually a mix) and for the veil. Also using the touch dubbing technique that GL describes in the book is important. The flies should be loosely dubbed to create bubbles that are trapped in the veil.

There are so many caddis species, but some that come to mind that are fairly common are Brown & Brt Green for Apple caddis / Lt grannoms and Dark Olive & Dark gray for dark grannoms. Black for chimarra and other black caddis species. Tan or Light brown for all the tan caddis species.

I've never tried Sandy's smoke on the water pattern, but I'll take his advise, tie some up, and give them a try.

 

[Upstream]

Deep Purple? Smoke on the Water? I'm having flashbacks of 1972. But, seriously, is this an actual color combo for the DSP and ESP? Thanks for the feedback.

 

[afishinado]

Upstream wrote:
Deep Purple? Smoke on the Water? I'm having flashbacks of 1972. But, seriously, is this an actual color combo for the DSP and ESP? Thanks for the feedback.

Upstream.

Yeah, I believe that Sandy is having flashbacks from his hippie days back in the early 70's. No, it's not a color that LaFountaine tied, but I have little doubt it would actually work. I tie a starling and purple soft hackle pattern that works really well for me.

Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Na--ah
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
boom-boom boom-boom

 

[sandfly]

meds keep the flash backs down quite a bit now afish..
here's the deep purple sparkle pupa----works great.

purple haze MasterblendXB, white and clear A.B.Caddis blend, brown deer hair..

 

[troutbert]

BradFromPotter wrote:

Upstream wrote:
The book contains so many color combinations for the pupa. Do you find certain colors work well in our neck of the woods?

I usually tie them in olive & tan in sizes 12, 14, & 16.

Yep. Tie lots of them in those colors, they imitate caddis which are very common. I tie them mostly in sizes 16 and 18.

 

[Upstream]

Sandy, so do you use the AB Caddis material for the over body/veil? If so, do you find your technique a bit easier to tie? I have been using yarns just like GL shows in the book. Sometimes it's a little tedious to get the material spread out nicely.

 

[afishinado]

Upstream wrote:
Sandy, so do you use the AB Caddis material for the over body/veil? If so, do you find your technique a bit easier to tie? I have been using yarns just like GL shows in the book. Sometimes it's a little tedious to get the material spread out nicely.

I use the "Sparkle Yarn" that GL recommended. It's hard to find today.

To get a more complete coverage (360*) with the overbody, I comb the SY out into 3 bunches (not 2 like GL showed in his book) and attached them spaced out evenly at the rear of the hook.

I hold each bunch rather loosely and make a loose wrap around, and add tension to the thread, the SY will begin to rotate around the hook. While maintaining only light tension, I spread the SY the rest of the way around the hook shank with a dubbing needle. When I'm satisfied with the coverage, I pull the overbody out with my dubbing needle to form a complete veil around the body and finish with some tight locking wraps. HTH.

 

[sandfly]

Yes I use the A.B.Caddis for the over body, it comes in longer strands for this purpose. I use it for the under body as well on all the pupas except the purple (no purple antron) a.b.caddis is lafontaines formula when he could not get the rug yarn and had jacks tackle work out the material for him.

 

[Lonewolve]

Sandfly,
what kind of hook?

 

[Upstream]

The materials that I have been using are Borden's Hare-Tron for the under body which I believe is supposed to be a mix of rabbit and Antron. For the over body, I acquired yarns quite a while back that indicates Jack's Tackle in Phoenixville, PA on the card and Galeton, PA on the wrapper. No luck googling him. The yarn has a statement on it that it is the real LaFontaine specified material. Do these appear to be the right stuff? Also, curious where to get the AB Caddis material. Thanks.

 

[BradFromPotter]

Upstream wrote:
The materials that I have been using are Borden's Hare-Tron for the under body which I believe is supposed to be a mix of rabbit and Antron. For the over body, I acquired yarns quite a while back that indicates Jack's Tackle in Phoenixville, PA on the card and Galeton, PA on the wrapper. No luck googling him. The yarn has a statement on it that it is the real LaFontaine specified material. Do these appear to be the right stuff? Also, curious where to get the AB Caddis material. Thanks.

Yes. The secret in dubbing the body is to use the "touch dubbing method". It is a very sparse body.

 

[outsider]

Upstream wrote:
The materials that I have been using are Borden's Hare-Tron for the under body which I believe is supposed to be a mix of rabbit and Antron. For the over body, I acquired yarns quite a while back that indicates Jack's Tackle in Phoenixville, PA on the card and Galeton, PA on the wrapper. No luck googling him. The yarn has a statement on it that it is the real LaFontaine specified material. Do these appear to be the right stuff? Also, curious where to get the AB Caddis material. Thanks.

Upstream, if you would like to contact Jack, pm me. He is in Douglasville.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

FYI: FFP in state college has a large collection of sparkle yarn in a variety of colors. I have used it as "veil" material for pupae. Comb a few strands out straight ahead of time so that the material is easier to position and tie.

 

[LongLineRelease]

FFP does have the sparkle yarn and it works great. But at one of their tying seminars they recommended the newer sparkle emerger yarn for a shuck.

 

[Sabot]

You can get all your LaFontaine tying materials at www.thebookmailer.com. I like Gary's flies too and get all my materials from them.