The Evolution of the FBC

[NJTroutbum]

Given enough time spent at the vise, sooner or later we are all bound to screw up and tie a pattern that works. Usually it works on a particular hatch, or stage of a particular hatch. Yet every now-and-then you REALLY screw up and tie a pattern that just flat out catches fish. The Foam Butt Caddis is that kind of pattern.

Tied originally as a cricket pattern for the Big Pine in Northcentral Pennsylvania, it quickly became my go-to terrestrial pattern, both for trout and smallmouth. It was at this stage, tied on a #10 standard Mustad 94840 dry fly hook, that I thought I had nailed it.

Then one hot muggy day I broke out the float tube and took it for bluegills on a local pond. The gills would not look up for anything I had, from a Gaines Popper to a hairbug. Nothing I had would bring them to the surface. In defeat I decided to use the FBC as an indicator, throwing a beadhead on a dropper. Instantly I began to catch fish....but not on the beadhead....on the FBC. As a result, over the course of a few years it established itself as bluegill candy. It still did well on trout as a cricket pattern, but truly found its mark as a bluegill pattern. I thought.

For the full blog click on the link below:
The Evolution of the FBC