October Caddis in Southeastern Washington

Was out at my place on the T------. Fished it and the Tucannon. No
biggies, lots of little cutts and a few nice ones and an occasional
decent sized rainbow (10" + is my dividing line). Hatches of
"mayflies" were erratic, lots of what i call BWOs, and still some
hoppers, HOWEVER, the surprise was the prolific October Caddis. Lots
out in the evening and probably all nite, but some were present all
day, and the brush was full of them. I don't remember ever seeing so
many here, or on the Yakima, or this early.

These puppies are an inch or more in length, long winged, a near
perfect color match with gray/brown Elk hair, and the body a dull
pumpkin/burnt orange. I love them. I find the best way to fish them is
to bounce them on the surface, paying little attention to the
direction of the flow.

I use #8 and # 10 Stimulators. However, a better match is the Dave
McNeese "Orange Caddis," which he designed to match the October Caddis
which some people call the "Fall Caddis." I believe this large caddis
is pretty much a Northwest specie.

We went thru all our stimulators by Monday. There were lots of micro
caddis on the water but with the big guys around, and with all the
tiny cutts, there was little point in going small. I was so keyed to
the surface it didn't occur to me to fish a big caddis nymph.

This has been a great year for the wheat, price wise. A good water
year also and we had a light dampening rain Sunday. Folks with alfalfa
might even get a final sparse cutting. This was our first year in
wheat and I was surprised at our little harvest dinner that the yield
went over 90 bushels an acre, and that is very very very good, Plan is
to sow hard red in early November, via no-till.

My trees are doing OK, will plant a few more next trip. Non-toxic Star
thistle control test continues. My place is too entwined with the
river to go in with the Aeriel spray program so I am trying to use
mowing and rougueing which is real work. Anyway, Great fun was had by
all.
Dave