EZ Caddis

EZ Caddis bottom view

Fly of the Month 08.22

There are fly patterns that can take over an hour to tie. These flies typically have lots of different materials that require many steps and funny techniques to complete. To the other extreme, hopefully there are easy to tie fly patterns that require little time to complete. There is no doubt that a fly patterns that takes over an hour to tie will also be of high quality and the intended imitation. The real question is, can we say the same for an easy fly pattern.

Let’s start with the simplest fly patterns known, flies with only one or two materials or steps. The Egg Fly or Glo  hook. A little bit of trimming to create a round egg shape and a spot made by a marker and we definitely have a high quality egg fly pattern in a few steps and primarily a single material.

One could argue the San Juan Worm is among the simplest. Tie a short length of vernille to a hook and burn each end slightly with a match and again we have a high quality worm fly pattern in a few steps and primarily a single material.
Beyond an egg or a worm, fly patterns such as a palmer, a bivisible and possibly a hackle fly such as the brown hackle peacock are all to be included as the simplest of fly patterns. Now the question is, can we tie a simple aquatic insect fly pattern that represents a mayfly or caddisfly or stonefly with high quality and the intended imitation.

EZ Caddis

The EZ Caddis is a parachute style caddis that may be called an Easy Caddis or Parachute Caddis. Regardless of the marketing name, this fly pattern is relatively simple to tie - maybe not in the simplest category with the fly patterns covered above - but simple enough that it is named the EZ Caddis.

The challenging steps are tying on a wingpost and finishing with a horizontal parachute-style hackle. In between, these two steps a body is wrapped on the hook shank and a pair of feather tips are added as a flat wing. That’s only a few steps. The resulting fly pattern is a high quality parachute caddis that has a strong appearance of imitating a caddisfly. The added bonus is the fly pattern may also appear to be a stonefly or even a terrestrial to a trout.
The high quality may be well tested by presenting the fly in slow water where the body lies in the surface film and the wings provide a clear silhouette of a caddisfly. In fast water, this fly pattern is a great floater with both the hackle and the flat wing leveraging the surface tension. A final point, this is a very durable fly pattern that will last after a good number of toothy fish takes.

As we said, a simple, high quality, imitative and easy fly pattern!

Fly of the Month 08.22

Tom Adams and Alen Baker

Name : EZ Caddis

Recipe :

Hook : Dry fly Tiemco 100 or equivalent , size14,16,18
Thread :  8/0 to match dubbing color
Abdomen Body : Antron or Caddis Lifecycle dubbing
Thorax : Troutline Super Buggy dub
Rib: X Small gold wire
Wing : Hungarian Partridge (brown)
Underwing : Antron or Caddis Lifecycle dubbing
Wingpost : EP Fiber - white Hackle :  Brown and Grizzly Rooster or Cree

Directions : 

1 - Debarb and mount the hook.  Attach thread two eye lengths from eye and tie in the gold wire.  Cover the wire while wrapping tight touching turns to the bend.  Move the extra length of wire out the way and let the bobbin hang.

2 -  Dub the thread with tight and very small amounts of dubbing to about two inches in length and begin tight touching turns to build a very small abdomen to just shy of the two thirds mark, add dubbing of necessary to complete the distance and let the bobbin hang.

3 - Wrap the gold wire in open turns to form the ribbing to the thread, should be about five turns of wire.  Secure the wire with three turns of thread and remove the waste. Let bobbin hang. Select a ¾ inch length of dubbing by pulling the dubbing pinch to make a long and parallel section of dub.  Tie the middle of the length of dubbing on top of the hook shank with two thread wraps and then fold the length in half and secure with thread wraps on top of the hook shank.  This will form the underwing.  There should be plenty of excess protruding past the hook bend. Use scissors to trim the underwing at an angle to form the caddis tent wing shape just past the hook bend.

4 - Select two Hungarian partridge feathers from the center of the back, between the wings, to use for the wing. Match the two up with the tips aligned.  Pull back the excess barbs and tie in on top of the hook shank with two soft but secure wraps. Pull gently on the two feathers in order to adjust the length to just past the bend while maintaining the position on top of the hook. Secure with three wraps and trim the waste.  Make wraps forward to the eye and back to the partridge to even out the slope from back to front.  Do not overwrap these threads, just avoid any sharp drops of thread to aid in the next materials.

5 - Select a portion of EP fiber about three inches long and half the diameter of a pencil to use as the wingpost.  Tie in the fibers on top of the hook shank at their halfway point with two wraps across their middle.  Lift the fibers straight up and make two wraps tight to the front of the tie in and then two wraps behind.  This will secure the post initially. Hold the fiber post with your left hand and make wraps starting at the hook shank and gradually going up the post, for about four or five turns. Return the thread in turns to the hook shank and let the bobbin hang.  Some folks will add a drop of cement to the base of the post at this time.

6 - Select a rooster hackle sized for the hook and trim any soft hackle from the stem.  Clear about a quarter inch of barbs from the base of the rooster hackle and tie in this bare stem at the wingpost by making two wraps covering and trapping the stem in front of the wing post and two behind.  Make wraps around the post as you lift the rooster straight up trapping the bare stem against the post.  Wrap again going down to the base and let the bobbin hang.

7 - Select a pinch of Troutline dubbing and dub about two inches of thread. Dub from the head to the end of the thorax forming a slightly larger thorax than abdomen.  Let the bobbin hang on the far side of the hook.

8 - Wrap the rooster hackle down the posts in four wraps and secure with thread at the hook shank being careful not to trap the partridge.  Whip finish and trim the waste thread.