Your new best friend: The BFF caddis!

During my work on the caddis fly collection I started to free style a little with Snow Shoe hare material. I’ve not tied a lot with this material but when I finally managed to get my hands on a few feet in different material I really enjoyed it, this must be my favourite material for the moment!

Having tied a lot of CDC/deer sedge hogs I did something simillar with Snow shoe hare and hare’s dubbing, it turned out great. No it turned out more than great, I swear that this pattern has all the attributes to become my new absolute favorite caddis imitation!

Four small sections of Snow shoe hare, tied in on top of the shank and in between each section is natural hare’s dubbing (from the ear of the hare) in front of the last section of snow shoe hare is brown dyed hare’s dubbing. Once the fly is tied I brush out the underside by brushing it back/upwards, makes the hares dubbing blend nicely with the wing! And it is all tied on the Partridge TDH size 14!

How about it? Can this guy become your new Best Friend Forever? The BFF Caddis!!!

 

Caddis fly project 2013 – #16 & 17

Getting close to the goal of 20 caddis patterns, I gotta say it’s a cool collection of world class flies for caddis imitations this!

Number 16 – Rackelhanen
If te CDC and elk were simple with only two materials this is even simpler, only one material in the whole fly! A Swedish classic developed by Kenneth Boström many years ago it has caught so many big trouts and graylings in Scandinavia where it is one of the most known patterns. It is tied entirely out of poly yarn and when treated with flotant it will float forever!

 

Number 17 – The clown shoe caddis
Developed more recently the clown shoe caddis has all the attribute to make it a modern classic: it’s original, fishes well and features some profiled materials. Developed by Jay Zimmerman from the USA the fly was first named Boulder creek caddis but since being picked up by Umpaq fly company it is now named the Clown Shoe Caddis. Do you kn0w any pattern with more visibility than this one?

Caddis fly project 2013 – #14 & 15

Next pair line up! Here’s two real modern classics for you!

Number 14 – The CDC and elk
From dutch fly tyer Hans Weilenman comes a simple but oh so effective small caddis imitation. With only two materials it shows that simple is often the best for fishing flies!

 

Number 14 – The CDC and elk
From Austrian fly fisher Roman Moser comes another simple but effective pattern. This has become many peoples favorite caddis imitation and the good thing with this is that you can tie in both big and small sizes and it fishes equally well.

Caddis fly project 2013 – #12 & 13

Here’s the next two in the series! It’s interesting to add up a couple of patterns that might not be that widely known or recognized but I want to have twenty patterns in the series that represents different styles and can be used in different conditions.

Number 12 – the Mikulak sedge
A big caddis pattern from Canada and fly tyer Art Mikulak. A really big almost attrator like pattern that should do some serious damage when the big caddis are hatching. I’ve found that there is a very similar pattern named “Nelson caddis” out there too.

 

Number 13 – The Snow shoe caddis
This is a pattern that sent me off on a wild freestyle for a few days. I hadn’t tied with snow shoe hare before and when I finally (wasn’t very easy to get hold of) got my hands on some paws I absolutely loved the stuff and freestyled several patterns with it. BUT, this is the original Snow shoe caddis from Martin Westbeek from Holland. You can tie it in a couple of different ways, especially the head, but if you want to do the original Westbeek pattern you can check this step-by-step article out:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/020209fotw.php

Caddis fly project 2013 – #10 & 11

The next two patterns is two patterns that are used in typical Swedish streams and rivers. One is one of the most known flies and one is a little forgotten gem.

Number 10 – The cone caddis
One of the simples caddis imitation you can tie but boy does it fish well! The Cone caddis (haven’t been able to find who designed it orginally), features a cone like wing of Elk hair and a thorax that are dubbed hare’s dubbing. Just grease up the who fly and fish it in smaller sizes and you are home safe!

Number 11 – Europea No.12
There was a time when EVERYONE in Sweden were fishing the “E-12″, it became one of those flies that were stuff of legends, rumours had it that in some waters the had forbidden the use of this fly because it was so effective…. if I remember it correctly there was a whole series of “Europea” flies that was introduced by a french fly company to the Scandinavian market some 30+ years ago. This was the twelfth fly in the series and by far the most popular. It features a couple of mallard flank feathers as wings.

Caddis fly project 2013 – #8 & 9

I’ve been tying more than I’ve had time to put up here. But I am gonna try and catch up with a post a day here. For number 8 and 9 I’ve chosen two patterns that I haven’t fished that much myself but both are regarded as top caddis patterns by the ones who fish them more than I’ve done.

Number 8 CDC bubble caddis
This is a pattern that comes from fly tying legend Oliver Edwards and his Masterclass DVD’s. What I’ve done with it is that I’ve used an additional CDC feather and also when I fold the feathers to create the bubble is that I keep them at different lenght to create a body in sections like this.

Number 9 – Brun’s caddis
A great pattern for caddis in size 16-18. From Norweigian André Brun this is a fly that has a tail and a wing from poly yarn. The body hackle is clipped on the underside which makes the fly sit low in the water film.

Caddis fly project 2013 – #6 & 7

 

 

Number 6 – the UH Sedge hog
A sedge hog is a traditional brittish (Irish?) pattern that uses sections of deer hair on the top of the shank to create a thick non sinkable caddis profile. On my version I wind CDC in a dubbing loop between each section of deer hair to create a more living pattern and to add even more boyance.

Number 7 – The X caddis
This pattern is made originally by Craig Matthews, and it is a good example of a minimalistic pattern that works really well! Imitating an emerging or stillborn caddis I have found it works best in size 16 i these colors. I’ve not nearly fished this one enough, so this comming season I am stocking up with more of these in my box!