Caddis Pupae

"Peter Charles" wrote



Thanks Tim. This page has one good picture of a pupa but they don't
identify it. I figure some combination of ginger and brown works for
most pupa except the black species.



My experience, and I always feel compelled to point out that it's limited,
indicates that pale olive and a yellowish ginger produce best during
hydropsyche time. If you catch freshly emerged adults they tend towards
these colors ( sexes different colors? ) but most of what you'll snag from
streamside weeds will be brown bodied, they seem to dull up after a short
period.

Obviously, one of the biggest reasons for coming up with your own patterns
is to match LOCAL bugs better, so YMMV

You and Mike mention shrouded patterns. Mid-June the caddis some on strong
on the Firehole. Last year, a wide variety of circumstances, mainly a bad
knee, had me wanting to fish downstream on a swing. I loop dubbed a fat
pale green or pale ginger body of Antron blend and lightly brushed it to
make it rougher, applied a very sparse downwing style wing of similar
colored Antron yarn ( looped around thread for durability ) and combed it
out over the top of the body. This 'wing" then looks little like a wing,
it's very thin and reflective ... think negligee and you get the ideaG .
Next somes a couple turns of partridge. Now add two or three wood duck
fibers on top and trailing backwards, rather long, cover the tiedown area
with some muskrat ( I bought a whole skin, so muskrat finds it's way into a
lot of my ties ... hares ear might be better ) I had better luck with
some tied with a black bead, but unweighted produced well, too. Treat the
thing with watershed ... fish it down with a reach cast, rather like a
spring creek dry presentation ... maintain just enough tension to feel it
then as it gets to the end of available line, let it swing.

This pattern produced VERY well at times, and was nearly useless at others.
This leads me to believe that trout were taking it "for" something when they
ate it, rather than just being attracted and thinking " might taste ok" My
assumption is they ate it as a hydropsyche pupa, but who knows. Fresh flies
alway worked better than soggy ones, and two or three casts without a take
was reason to change, or maybe FrogFanny.

On the West coast a Bird's Nest treated with powdered floatant and fished
with splitshot is very popular and effective. The artist in me
appreciates this approach ... i.e. actually having real bubbles on the fly
.... over the shiny stuff that looks like bubbles approach .... a mixture of
the two might be the best, and that is kinda what I tried for, get bubbles
to cling to a fly with a sparse amount of shiny stuff in it.

I'm glad to hear Mike say he saw what LaFontaine reported ... my own caddis
emerger efforts, and I've gotten a couple 'famous' tiers to admit the same
of theirs, come from trying to imagine what a pupa would look like with
bubbles because "they" say the pupa have bubbles. Until I actually see it
myself, I'll still wonder if the sparkle isn't more attractor than
imitation, I guess