Favorite Caddis Dry?

[jifigz]

Hey folks.... What's your favorite Caddis style dry? I'm looking for suggestions of a pattern that's new to me to tie and fish. I've tied and fished several, but I don't know if I've ever had a Caddis pattern I truly loved..

 

[afishinado]

My favorite dry fly caddis pattern is the CDC & Elk.

It's a simple pattern which uses only two materials.

It can be tied to match all sort of caddis species by changing the size and color.

Good luck.

 

[Bamboozle]

My favorite caddis pattern is the only caddis pattern I tie; an Elk Wing Caddis which I also use as a stone fly pattern.

 

[redietz]

I'm with Afishindo, CDC & Elk.

 

[JimNovo]

So many to choose from. Here are my favorites:

Simple CDC Caddis
Looped CDC and Deer Caddis
The WBranch Caddis

 

[troutbert]

I just tie the original Elk Hair Caddis.

Some of them I tied fully hackled, for fast, broken water such as on mountain streams.

Others I tie with short, sparse hackle, for flat, smooth water, particularly for limestone streams.

I mostly use sizes 14 and 16.

Some limestone streams have a tan caddis late in the season that is matched by a size 18. And I have seen trout take the #18 and refuse a #16.

 

[stashe]

Elk hair Caddis size 12 to 18

 

[jifigz]

I think I actually may have asked this question last year. I, too, most commonly tie and fish the EHC. Does anyone here commonly use the Missing Link?

 

[RLeep2]

I fish a lot of conventional downwing elk/deer hair caddis and also quite a few Henryville-type caddis, particularly during the grannom when I skitter and pop them underwater briefly. But the caddis dry I rely most on day and day out is a "deerhair delta", a hybrid of a deerhair caddis crossed with the old Solomon/Leiser delta wing caddis. It's just a simple downwing deerhair caddis with the wing split in two at a 45 degree angle. It's hackled over the front half of the fly and then clipped flush on the bottom. I like it mostly because it catches fish, but aslso because it is equally at home on quiet pools where it lies flush and in runs and faster water where it floats like a cork. Saves a lot of fussing changing flies with changing water types on smaller streams in particular. I strongly dislike fussing when I'm trying to fish..

 

[jifigz]

So many to choose from. Here are my favorites:

Simple CDC Caddis
Looped CDC and Deer Caddis
The WBranch Caddis

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Do I see foam on your simple CDC Caddis?

 

[JimNovo]

yes. Keeps them floating high.

 

[rrt]

Wright Fluttering Caddis, size 14, 16 in ginger. Body peacock herl ribbed with fine wire, ginger wing, ginger hackle. Works well when fishing the water.

 

[dc410]

My favorite over the years has also become the CDC & Elk.

 

[klingy]

X-caddis. Super simple and a fast tie. Only three materials. Floats great.

 

[jifigz]

There is a lot of love for the CDC & Elk it seems. I just tied one up using a size 12 hook, some CDC from a Canada goose that I shot at one point, and some elk hair.

Do they float well?

 

[rancid waders]

An X Caddis or Henryville

 

[falcon]

The Kings River Caddis is a good one. The downside is the fragile wings. After a few fish the wings shred and the fly does not work as well.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I think I actually may have asked this question last year. I, too, most commonly tie and fish the EHC. Does anyone here commonly use the Missing Link?

I tied a couple of them for the first time last year and used them on one of the better known streams in your area. I had so much success with using them, more than I did with a few other more common caddis patterns, that you can bet I’ll have a good supply of them in my box by next spring.

 

[jifigz]

I tied a couple of them for the first time last year and used them on one of the better known streams in your area. I had so much success with using them, more than I did with a few other more common caddis patterns, that you can bet I’ll have a good supply of them in my box by next spring.

While I was fishing one of those "more famous streams in my area" (probably the same one you are talking about) someone told me about it. This was during April. I've never tied or fished one, though..

 

[dc410]

There is a lot of love for the CDC & Elk it seems. I just tied one up using a size 12 hook, some CDC from a Canada goose that I shot at one point, and some elk hair.

Do they float well?

CDC & Elk is an awesome fish catching caddis pattern. However it does ride fairly low right in the film - kinda like a real caddis fly does. 😉 Keep the frogs fanny (or other desiccant type of drying agent) handy because they do get slimed up quick after catching a few fish, or just tie on a new one and let the other one dry out on your fly patch. I honestly think the movement of the CDC fibers in the film are a serious trigger for trout feeding on caddisflies.