Caddis Pupa

[henrydavid]

I'm reading up on caddis hatches and some of what I'm reading is enlightening and seems to match exactly what I saw on the stream 2 days ago.

I saw nothing in the air or on the water at first and no rises, after just a bit I started to spot 1, then 2, just here and there, grannoms I assumed. During this time I was drifting a copper john nymph and not getting a single touch, I finally got a nice strike on a swing and figured it was time to give the nymph some action.

I hooked up after just a few attempts and got a nice brown. Shortly after another miss, then I started noticing more grannoms in the air. Not thinking the situation through I switched to a dry caddis imitation after capturing a couple of the insects.

To clarify the color they appeared greyish and brown on the wings and a lighter tan body. I tried desperately to imitate them and finally got a small wild brown but nothing else even came close to it.

After getting home I figured I would've been better off keeping with the swimming nymph. There eventually came a near blizzard of grannoms but in hindsight I don't think they were on the water and the trout were not taking them.
Just a near swarm of them moving upstream, just like what I read about, they move upstream to distribute themselves throughout rather than all ending up at the mouth or dam.

I did see several trout rising and something else that made me wonder, a few coming completely out of the water. Where those trout taking the swimming nymphs and catapulting themselves out of the water in the process?

I'd love some input, are the dry fly imitations of the grannoms to be ignored if they are moving upstream and off the water?

What would be your choice of nymph patterns and any tips on the action to impart on them.

 

[stevehalupka]

yes, the fish were prob. chasing emerging caddis. I use a very simple non-hackled pattern. It lies in the film better, and can be sunk with ease for a swing. Lift the rod tip, shake it, and boom, fish on.

the imitation I use for all caddis applications (tan, black, green)

skate that in front of them and it should produce.

Orrr, you could use a hackled adult, drop a foot of tippet to a caddis pupae, then down another foot to larvae.

You'll get so many diff answers to this question.

 

[TUNA]

I would say that it is a little late in the year for Grannoms, but what you probably saw were just typical "tan caddis." I would fish a simple tan Elk and CDC caddis dry, then drop a caddis pupa from the bend of the hook, putting it right in the middle of the water column. You could even drop a caddis larva from the pupa, if you wanted to fish near the stream bottom too. I would then probably fish the rig on the swing quartering downstream. Usually when caddis flies are active I employ the above tactic with good success.

Pretty much what Halupka said.

 

[bam]

in a situation like that I'd use simple soft hackles swung through the riffles. hares ear wet fly, a peacock and partridge or a simple antron caddis emerger would have killed them.

good luck and make sure you get back on the stream at the same time today! No better time to use a sick day than during a blizzard caddis hatch.

 

[goodfortune]

For dries, I like emergent sparkle pupa (ESP) and X-caddis patterns. Both can imitate caddis pupa in the surface film in the process of emerging.

For subsurface patterns, try deep sparkle pupa (DSP), soft hackles, and caddis larva. The setup TUNA and SteveH both describe is a good approach. when caddis are in egg-laying mode, which often looks alot like a caddis emergence, swinging or skating dry or soft hackle patterns can also produce.

Around this time of year, Slate Drake nymphs can also make fish behave the same way that they would to caddis activity. If you suspect slate drakes, try swinging and/or stripping a dark colored soft hackle. Hope this helps...

 

[stevehalupka]

I believe those hatching now are cinnamon caddis??

 

[henrydavid]

Thank you very much for all the input, I am heading back this afternoon and I'll attempt to get more samples. Weather looks good for another hatch. I hope to have more photos.

One more question (for now) are all caddis known to fly upstream?

 

[gfen]

henrydavid wrote:
One more question (for now) are all caddis known to fly upstream?

Something i read once on this sort of thing: If flies were known to go downstream, then we'd have hatches in the oceans.

 

[jayL]

Try a CDC and elk. I no longer tie any other floating caddis.

 

[troutslammer]

october caddis , tan body with elk hair or like jay said better yet natural cdc , a dry dropper like tuna said is killer with the majority probably hitting the dropper (hares ear soft hackle or tan caddis pupa )

 

[troutslammer]

oh 1 more thing , maybe if we knew the stream we could get a good look at the actual bug and give better advice ....lol

 

[MKern]

Insects, like many species of fish, will travel downstream in their larval, nymph stage. Upon emergance they will travel upstream, back to where they hatched.

This is called causal drift and is done for foraging and gene-pool mixing.

However, you will always see a handful of insects travelling away from the stream. These bugs are programmed to look for new habitiat and to ensure there species' future. This is whe mayflies show up on your car or house windows and you live miles from the nearest stream.

 

[henrydavid]

Thanks again for all the input, I did get an identification from Joe Ackourey that they are tan caddis, not grannoms. Got skunked last time out but didn't get out til late in the afternoon and the hatch never really happened, the caddis were sporadic at best.

 

[Pontus]

stevehalupka: Is that caddis pattern just a dubbed body and elk/deer hair wing? Nothing else?

 

[jdaddy]

Ya, it's just a X-caddis without the shuck/tail feature. I pretty much use X-Caddis now, though I will palmer CDC on there some times.

 

[stevehalupka]

Pontus wrote:
stevehalupka: Is that caddis pattern just a dubbed body and elk/deer hair wing? Nothing else?

yes and I assure you it produces over adult, hackled caddis.

 

[Chaz]

I don't know if there are any grannoms that hatch this time of the year, but certainly there are caddis, usually cinnamon caddis of about a # 12. I tie it with a cinnamon body, deer hair wings and ginger hackle. They are also called October Caddis. This hatch is unpredictable but it occurs on many streams throughout the Commonwealth. Skittered it is deadly.