Fly lines

When you think of classic dry fly fishing - upstream casting to a free rising trout - you are almost certainly picturing a mayfly hatch.

Mayflies, with their delicately curved bodies, their upright wings, and their habit of drifting for long distances on the surface of the river, are well suited to the sport of flyfishing. You can see the hatch, figure it out and then match it. You have the pleasure of watching your imitation, floating just like a natural. When the head and tail rise comes, it is clean and pure - you have earned it through your skill as an angler.

Caddis on the other hand are meat-and-potatoes insects; fish see them and feed on them regularly. In most rivers there are four or five time as many caddis as mayflies. The amount of bio-mass available to the trout in the caddis hatches is much greater. But the hatch is often more difficult to see and to figure out. Caddis do not always lend themselves to clean, pure flyfishing tactics.

The movements of these insects are quick and darting. The wing beats are so rapid that at night, in the lantern light, they give a strobe-like effect. The insect's flight path appears like a string of dots around the light rather than an uninterrupted movement. Speed makes caddis difficult to catch and identify.

At hatch time, caddis come off the water so fast the angler rarely sees it happen.

The Latin name for this insect family is Tricoptera, meaning "hair winged insects." Under a microscope you can see tiny hair-like fibers all over the caddis' wings. These fibers trap air around the wing so, at emergence, the wings unfurl and the caddis is immediately airborne. There is no long resting and drying period where the insects drift on the water as mayfly do. A major hatch can be underway and the angler will not see any insects on the water, drifting.

However, under these conditions, a dry fly, presented in the traditional dead-drift manner, is likely to be attractive to the fish. Somehow, in one of those small miracles of the river, the fish see the hatch and focus on it selectively. You'll see occasional surface rises from the trout, indicating there is some sort of activity that you simply can't detect.

It is also interesting to identify periods when nymph fishing with caddis patterns will be effective. Caddis are a three stage insect, there is a larva, a pupa and an adult. Most other insect species simply have a nymph and adult stage.

Caddis larva are of limited value to the nymphing fisherman. Most caddis species build various types of case shelters out of rocks, sticks or pine needles. They live in these cases secured to the rocks where they are not readily available to foraging trout. Only the few free-living caddis larva, called rock worms, are found in large numbers, in the trout's diet.

Caddis pupa on the other hand are very common trout food. The pupa is a very short-lived stage. You will rarely see a live pupa except in a stomach sample taken from a trout that has been recently killed.

Pupa are staple in the trout's diet. However, in order to match them properly, the angler, who may never see this stage of the insect's life cycle, must make an educated guess as to which nymph he should fish. You have to imagine what the size shape and color the pupa would be based on how the adults look. Sometimes it takes a bit of experimentation to get it right.

Even though the lowly caddis does not offer the same kind of classic fishing that a mayfly does, it is too important an insect to be ignored. To become a successful caddis fisherman, the angler must be highly attuned to the hatch time and place. He must learn to use instincts and intuition. If he can make a good educated guess, his angling success will increase dramatically.