Conan The Librarian wrote:

Howdy,

In preparation for my trip to the Crowsnest at the end of
July/beginning of August, I've been stocking up the flyboxes. From
what I've read, the Lime Trude is aa excellent all-purpose fly for
that time of year, so yesterday I started tying some. In going
through my materials, I ran across some white CDC oiler puffs, and got
to thinking about how they might work as a wing on a Trude. I tend to
fish a Trude as a combination dry/wet by letting it swing and
retrieving it like a streamer after the drift, and it seems like the
CDC might add a bit of extra appeal.

I tied some up with the CDC, and in the vise they look very nice.
I know that the only way to know for sure is to ty them, but I was
just curious if any ROFFians or ROFFTians have played around with
substituting CDC like this. I was also thinking that the "hi-viz"
stuff might make a nice wing on Trudes.

Personally I tie most of my downwing flies with Elk but calf tail has
different properties and I think it is better as a damp/wet fly. There
was a local guy that got a reputation, years ago, for impressive catches
he made on Rio Grande Kings ( a calf tail trude similar to the Pass
Lake). The rumor was that he fished them damp and with action.

CDC is very appealing to fish. I use it as an under wing on some
patterns but I've never used it by itself in a down wing pattern. (I do
however like CDC comparadun style flies especially for the small insects).


So am I just getting carried away with my "improvements", or is
there some legitimacy to making a sub like that? Any other subs that
you frequently make to traditional flies?


I think that most people who have been tying for some time usually make
changes to traditional flies for a variety of reasons. There are few
standard patterns I tie as "specified." Some changes are improvements
and some aren't. Experimenting with patterns is what tying is about,
IMO, and there is nothing more legitimate than trying out a sub. But for
patterns that have been around a long time and are still effective, it's
likely that the originator found some combinations that were appealing
to fish.

Willi