Cased Caddis SBS

Here's a cased caddis pattern I've had lots of success with over the last year.  Caddis are an important food source for our trout and they key in on them below the surface just as much as on.  The cased caddis is often overlooked but shouldn't be.  Considering how much time trout spend on the stream bed it should come as no surprise they gladly eat these bottom dwellers. It's tied to be use as an anchor in a euro set up but would no doubt work well under an indicator also.  It has a lot going for it.  Between the tungsten bead and the lead wraps it gets down in a hurry.  The pearl braid adds just enough flash and the partridge gives it life suggesting movement.  The real key to this patterns is the hook though.  The jig hook makes the pattern ride upside down.  This dramatically helps the fly not snag.  Another option would be to use a ball-head jig hook like used on the micro marabou jigs.  A straight hook would look fine but snag more although there are ways to make them ride upside down also.   

 What you'll need

Hook:  Dohiku Jig (or similar hook)  sizes 8-12 are the most useful

Weight:  Tungsten bead (the slotted ones work best with jig hooks) black or copper

also lead or lead-free wire(optional)

Body/tail:  Pearl core braid chartreuse or color to match naturals

Legs:  Partridge

Case:  Hare's ear dubbing

Rib:  Webby hackle, brown

Extra:  You will need a dubbing brush or velcro  

 Step one
Slide on the bead and run a layer of thread.  If you are adding the lead wire for extra weight do so now.  If you're paranoid about things moving around go ahead and use super-glue.  I find that it's unneeded as long as you use nice tight thread wraps.  Only wind the lead back to the point.  This keeps it front heavy so as to not mess up the balance of the jig.

 Step two
Using a lighter melt the tip of your braid.  This melts everything together making sure the braid doesn't unravel and in the process makes a dark little caddis head like the naturals.

 Step three
Tie in the braid.  It should be about half a shank long.  Clip the waste before you get to the lead.  By tying everything in before the lead it will help even out the body.and avoid unnecessary bulk.

 Step four
Tie in the partridge by the tip.  The barbs should extend a little longer than the braid.  This is also a good time to cover up the lead with a layer of thread.

 Step five
Wind on the partridge.  Depending on the quality of the hackle one turn is usually plenty.

 Step six
Tie in a brown hackle so it cups towards you.  This way the barbs will slant away from the partridge making it less likely you'll trim you're legs off at the end.  I'm using a webby rooster feather (neck hackle I'm guessing) out of a Whiting variety pack but a hen saddle or some cheap strung rooster saddles would work great.  Keep in mind you're going to trim this so just use something cheap.  If you want to add some extra durability you can add mono or wire to use as a cross rib.  I don't find it necessary at all.  In fact the more beat up this fly gets the better it usually works.

 Step seven
Dub the case.  Don't worry much about taper.  Good old natural hare's ear works great.  The case on a natural will be more or less the same color as the stream bed so use that as a judge on dubbing color.  If you're stream has a lot of vegetation a little green mixed in couldn't hurt as caddis use what's readily available for their case.

 Step eight
Wind the hackle up in even turns.  Five is usually about right.

Step nine

Clip the waste end if you haven't already then whip finish and head cement .  This fly spends a lot of time bouncing along the bottom so a double whip finish couldn't hurt.  Using a dubbing brush or a piece of velcro absolutely go to town on the fly.  Really brush everything out good.

Finishing touches

Taking care not to cut off the partridge legs trim the fly.  A straight cut on each side leaves you a little box which is what you want.  Taper towards the front if possible but the fish don't care either way.  My poor photography skills don't do it justice but the hackle rib is what really makes the case.  

Current River Report 12/29/2011

Access:  Baptist (big surprise)

Weather:  Sunny and close to 60, surprisingly cold in the morning

Time Fished:  6:30 to 3:00

Water:  Clear until the jet boat came

Flow:  112 cfs

Hatch:  Caddis , A Jet Boat

I was looking at the blog the other day and noticed I hadn't posted in a while.  I then noticed something far more sinister.  I haven't been to the Current since September!!  I've been doing a little warmwater fishing and messing with those goofy trout they stock in the lakes around town but I haven't been to my "home waters" in way too long.  So bright, make that dark, and early Thursday I headed down.   

  I actually beat the sun.  Since it was still dark I decided streamers would be a wise choice.  I knew it was cold out but I quickly realized it was really cold.  My guides were freezing up.  Considering it would get up to 60 I found this surprising.  Stripping streamers through frozen guides is no fun so I went and switched to the nymph rod.

Once the sun arrived it warmed up quickly and people started showing up.  It was by no means "trout park crowded"  but you'd never guess it was a weekday at the end of December.  I worked most of the run below the parking lot until deciding it was going to get crowded.  I was going to work upstream but saw a few guys heading that way so I took the shortcut downstream.  Once down there I had lots more elbow room.  I've noticed that no matter how many cars are in the lot there still won't be many people down around the S-bend.  If you're really hell-bent on solitude just keep going, there's almost never anyone even close to Ashley with the obvious exception of floaters.

I wouldn't say I was doing good but I was catching fish.  I got one in all the likely spots but never pulled more than one out of a hole with only one exception.  I did get two out of spot I usually just glance over....not anymore.  I caught far more browns than I did bows which is a little odd.  My best fish of the day was a rainbow with great color.  It was only around sixteen inches but put up a great fight, really using some fast water to it's advantage. No matter what I was catching they all had one thing in common.  The fish were glued to the bottom.  The fish didn't seem to care what the fly was as long as it was right on the bottom.  Getting my flies deep fast and keeping them there was definitely the way to go but I lost a ton to the stream bed.  I was already low on nymphs but my box is just about empty.  My anchor side actually has three # 10 Czechs and nothing else left. 

I was down around the big bluff when I started to hear an engine getting closer.  I turn downstream and see a flippin' jet boat barreling up the stream.  I don't think I've ever seen a jet boat that far up.  From what I hear the guy went all the way to Tan Vat.  The little stream didn't care too much for the boat either.  It really seemed to churn everything up.  The water got pretty foggy and took it's sweet time clearing up.  The fishing dropped right off the shelf too.  It was an easy decision to finally head back to the car and eat lunch.

There were a few caddis coming off in the late afternoon.  At first I wasn't really sure what they were, they were way too big to be the usual winter bugs.  Apparently the fish didn't expect caddis in December either because they sure didn't want to rise.  I half-assedly  tossed a few dries around the parking lot pool trying to get one up but couldn't find any takers. A bunch more people started showing up so I decided to call it a day at Baptist.  I headed up to Tan Vat to find a bunch of cars so I kept going.  There were a few cars parked at the end of Montauk's campground so I decided against that access too.  I really need to get a vehicle that sits more than two inches off the ground and start heading to the more "rustic" accesses.  I did sit and watch some fish rise at the park.  I somehow knew there'd be trout rising the one place we're not allowed to fish. 

It was time to hit the road and do my patented done fishing routine which consists of stopping in Rolla to eat dinner with my brother who goes to UMR (I refuse to say MST so don't bother correcting me), followed by fighting the urge to go 100 down highway 44, followed by fighting the urge to go 80 down highway 30.  There's only one exception to this routine and that's when I make the long drive down to Taneycomo.  This variation means dinner with my sister at MO State and not fighting the urge to speed.

Blog Note:  Instead of being a deadbeat blogger I plan on putting up more fly tying posts and maybe some gear reviews between my trip reports.  Considering the shape my nymph box is in I'd be expecting some nymphs first but I should slowly but surely get step by steps of my tried and trues.  In addition if I mention any flies or you see one in my pics just ask and I'll definitely be able to get a picture and recipe if not a whole SBS. 

Current River 9/27/2011

Access:  Baptist

Time:  9:00 AM-5:00 PM

Water:  Low and CLEAR

Weather:  70s, partly cloudy

Third time's a charm.  After trying to go twice last week I finally made it to the Current.  I guess they got tired of calling me in to work.  I pulled into Tan Vat to find a few too many cars so I headed to Baptist.  Only one other car at Baptist so I was good to go.  I ended up having the river more or less to myself.  

First fish of the day (size isn't everything)

The water was in classic Autumn shape, low and clear, actually ridiculously clear.  It was one of those days where you need your A-game.  For the most part, I've Euro-nymphed all year.  A more delicate approach seemed to be in order so I went the wet fly route. I caught one little rainbow right as my flies turned to start  to swing, but the rest took them dead drift.  I'm far from an expert on this but this is how I do it.  I basically break down the water into sections.  First I'll go straight upstream and raise my rod as they come back to keep decent contact with the flies but not so much that it messes the drift.  Then I'll cast up and across, then up and a little more across and so on until I'm more or less casting right across.  Once I'm casting more across than up I'll track the flies with my rod and let them drift past me.  Then I'll either swing out the drift or hand twist the flies back in, or both.  A long rod helps a lot.  I use a 10 foot 4WT.  Strike detection can be tricky when the flies are drifting.  I have a foot of hot orange mono built into my leader that helps.  I keep one eye on it and one eye on where the flies should be and set the hook at the slightest hint of anything.  Some days you're lucky and they strike hard,  Tuesday wasn't one of these days.  

Anyone know what this mayfly is?

There was all kinds of bug activity going on.  The olives were coming off a little in the morning until the sun scared them off.  There were also a bunch of little (about a #18) caddis around and also some very pale yellow mayflies that were in the #14-#16 range.  My bug Latin is a little lacking so I'm not sure what they were, but I did get a fuzzy picture.  Despite all these tasty morsels around risers were few and far between.  When I did find a rising fish it was generally taking the pale mayflies.  It's hard to pass up dry fly fishing so when I found a riser I'd switch out the wets for a dry.  I used CDC duns and a CDC and elk for the one that looked like it was taking caddis.  

I ended up catching five or six rainbows on dries.  Unfortunately when I'd find a rising fish it was always just that, one rising fish.  So after spooking or catching any risers I'd go back to wets.  Successful wets were split by species.  Every wet-fly caught rainbow took a Peter Ross I had at point.  Every single brown took a soft hackle of some kind.  I used lots of different softies but If memory serves me right a Partridge and Yellow worked best.  However, the big one took an Olive and Dun Spider. 

Working my way downstream I spotted a really nice brown.  It had spotted me too and had a case of lock jaw.  I made a mental note of it's location and kept fishing my way downstream.  On my way back upstream I was ready.  I retied all my knots just to be safe and waded into position as ninja-like as I could.  I couldn't quite see if the fish was still there but I was hopeful.  Getting a better look was out of the question as I would likely spook it again.  The clouds came and went all day, but it seemed like I was only catching fish when the sun was blocked.  So I stood there and waited for the clouds.  After who knows how long it was time to cast.  Miraculously, it landed right where I wanted it.  Even more miraculously I saw a golden flash and even more miraculously than that I didn't screw up the hook set.  It's nice when everything comes together.  I was in a great place to cast but a fairly crappy place to play a nice fish.  I got the fish on the reel then tried to keep it out of the nearby logjam while I waded to friendlier waters.  The fight was down and dirty but after a couple nice runs I got it into the net fairly quickly.  I snapped two quick pictures and let it go.  The fish shot right out of my hands immediately so it's safe to say it's still swimming around Baptist getting bigger.  This fish has definitely had a rough life.  It's jaw was deformed on one side and it had a nasty scar on it's snout.  It should be easy to pick out if/when it's caught again.

I couldn't think of a better way to end the day.  Despite not catching many fish I'd say it was a successful trip.  I was a little rusty on my wet fly skills but I'll probably get plenty more practice this fall.  Next time I head fishing I need to fight the urge to fish Baptist.  I'm in danger of getting stuck in a rut.  I might just go to a different river altogether.  Who knows, maybe I'll really change it up and go night fishing at Taney.