Favorite Caddis dry patterns?

R

Roofin' Trouter

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Which caddis dry and emerger patterns do you fish most often? I've tied the Elk Hair Caddis, Solomon Wing Caddis, and x- caddis and added them to my boxes. Are there any good ones that I should tie
?
 
My go to are the elk and deer hair caddis. I also have a bunch of CDC caddis and an Antron wing caddis that Wetfly taught me how to fish. For my eyes visibility is the key and all of the above are easy to track on most types of water.
 
For me, the most productive and simplest Caddis is the 2CDC Caddis. One CDC feather for the body, then a simple CDC wing. You can vary the colors and sizes easily. And it has proven to work for me on tough fish!
 
For dry fly caddis, I tend to only tie the standard Elk Hair Caddis. Sometimes I use elk hair for the wing and sometimes I use coastal deer hair. It is a such a quick and easy tie that floats high, takes abuse, and will catch trout, bass, and panfish. I would make the argument that it is the single best, and possibly the only dry fly needed, for catching freestone mountain brook trout. Although a small Chernobyl ant also excels there.

Where I start getting more creative with my caddis is with my wetfly/flymphs/whatever you want to call em. They are more productive for me during a caddis hatch than a dry.
 
I kinda like the Henryville and fluttering caddis.

The EHC is good but I keep going back to the 2 above.
 
Dis von works.

58699C04 6178 4711 8727 0268935F8F29
 
Arguably, the best caddis mayfly dry fly pattern ever. Well, maybe.

3C2B4B2F 9550 4F89 89DF AEBD43CAB2DE
 
I find it pays to have a variety of styles. In addition to above, I like parachute caddis, and use it most. My wings can be elk hock, coastal deer, mink tail guard hairs, woodchuck guard hair, or dry fly hackle bunches. Posts are variable length and typically polypropylene, sometimes Antron. Parachute hackle is usually dark dun irrespective of body color, and undersized compared with a mayfly parachute. I also tie extra hackle versions for dry dropper. I generally find sparse downwings preferable on pressured waters. Though dead drift is more typical, parachutes skittered is an option though not designed for it.
 
albatross said:
The Bill Anderson poly-wing pattern is pretty close to the Fluttering pattern I think, plus or minus CDC.

Well at least the FlyFishFood version https://www.flyfishfood.com/blogs/dry-fly-tutorials/fluttering-caddis
pf-6139cd98--FlutteringCaddisBL.jpg


@dryflyguy you use the hacked version of the Fluttering, right?
proxy-image
Click to expand...
Yes the hackle collar is what I use.
There is a similar pattern called a Wright caddis. It uses hackle fibers for the wing though - I use deer hair.
I just change the colors and size for all the different caddis types.
My go to grannom pattern is tied #14, with brown hackle, dark brown deer hair wing, and dark brown dubbed body

This pattern is designed to be twitched, I believe.
But I fish it dead drift pretty much exclusively.
It just has a nice profile, and works

I noticed someone else mentioned a Henryville.
That fly is like an Adams for caddis - kind of an attractor pattern IMO.
It has a lot of materials involved, and I've never really fished it much.
But it looks really nice to me too
 
I've been using the CDC and Elk(deer hair) since I was introduced to it in the mid to late 90's. It's consistently caught fish for me throughout the NE and Southern Ontario. Easy to tie. It's the only dry caddis pattern in my trout box.
 
I’m a big fan of the CDC and elk(deer) as well. It has become a confidence dry fly pattern for me over many years.
 
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