caddis questions

[C&R]

Trying to understand more about cased caddis patterns.

My understanding is that a cased caddis pattern represents the larva stage of the caddis fly. The hackle is trimmed short giving it a spikey appearance, imitation the tiny prickly follicles it has (similar to a caterpillar).

If that it the case, then why do some larva patterns not have this spikey hackle? Like patterns that use green beads for example. And why are these patterns typically tied on an emerger hook, not a straight nymph hook like the cased caddis.

Also why is it called cased? Isn't a non-cased caddis called a pupa? Why not just call a cased caddis a caddis larva instead?

[McAwful]

C&R,

A caddis larva looks like a segmented worm with 6 legs coming out of its neck. All of the "follicles" along the body are actualy its gills. Caddis build cases to protect themselves the same way a Hermit Crab grabs a shell. Caddis will leave and outgrow their cases. Thus cased and uncased larva. The larva cocoon themselves and go through a complete metamorphosis, this is the pupa or emerger stage. They have to break the membrane and swim to the surface and fly up. The adult caddis then hang out in the trees and bushes for a few weeks and mate. Once the adult is ready they swim to the bottom to oviposit. Some Caddis will oviposit more than once. There is no spinner stage, just a drowned caddis. If you think Mayflies are alot to remember,there are 9 billion types of caddis. The good thing about caddis is that they seem easier to represent and most exhibit the same behaviors as mentioned above.

McAwful

[Pete]

Caddis cases vary in appearance. Some are made of tiny pebbles/sand, some from other stream debris.

I first became aware of cased caddis was when I was in Vermont in 1964. I caught some small brookies that had what appeared to be small pieces of twigs stuffed in their mouths. I examined the river bottom and found that the riffle was paved with these "twigs". Inside each was a tiny white caddis.

Most caddis larve build cases, but the exceptions may explain why the term "cased caddis" is often used.

See: http://www.first-nature.com/insects/...richoptera.htm

[jmoore]

As mentioned most caddis build cases of various materials found on the stream bottom. Exceptions to this are the Ryacophilia and Hydropsychidae families. They are what are called "free-living" caddis meaning free of a case. Caddis from the Hydropsychidae family are netbuilders. They make little nets out of their silk to catch debris floating by in the current to eat. They also use their silk to rappel downstream to another area to feed. In other words they migrate to a new pasture. This is often called behavioral drift. When they drift they curl up. This is why they are tied on a curved hook. Most caddis cases are straight, so cased caddis patterns are tied on straight hooks.

[Petergoodman]

While we all love a good mayfly hatch, it seems like I have caught more trout on caddis in one form or another. Would be worth your while to know more about these bugs. Suggest Gary LaFontaine's book called Caddisflies (the Bible in this area), The Orvis booklet on Caddis, or Thomas Ames New England Hatches which is more general but will still give you everything you need.

Here are the kinds of things that knowing something about caddis can do to help catch fish:

• Ever see flights of caddis swimming upstream, fished a caddis imiitation and caught nothing? They were flying upstream to mate - wait a bit and try a drowned caddis or softhackle.
• Some caddis swim freely, and some sit in cases on the bottom. Knowing what bugs are in season tells you what imitaion to use
• Some caddis drop eggs by bouncing in the suface in a riffle (heavily hackled dry). Others swim through the surface to the bottom (wet fly?). Again, knowing what is going on helps you choose imiitations.

[dcabarle]

There's a guy who actually uses caddis larva to make Jewlery out of gold leaf and various gems. The caddis build their homes out of this gold leaf and the guy then uses the homes for necklesses and pendants and all types of stuff.

Pretty neat.

[Steve M]

Saw those at the show. Pretty cool. I was tempted to buy a pair of earings for my wife, but then realized she wasn't going tothink it was so cool. My daughter might though.

[babyblue]

CR, get LaFontaine's book. It is worth what ever it costs. I, too, have caught more trout on caddis imitations than any other. A spentwing caddis imitation is a must when fishing the Delaware system, paticularly the Main. I've had many good evenings during Hendricksons when you would swear the fish are eating spinners, when in fact they are eating spentwing caddis. I use a Partridge Spentwing caddis size 16 and 14 in tan, olive, brown, and bright green. I used to think I was a horrible spinner fisherman til I figured this one out. I also swear by his (LaFontaines) emerger pattern. Caddis, the other white meat!

[just dave]

Babyblue is right, absolutely get Gary LaFontaine's book Caddisflies if you are interested in fishing this very important hatch. For example, if you fish the Tulpehocken in PA, you won't catch anything unless you use some sort of caddis imitation. It's a most important fly on many rivers. Big fish come up for caddis dries when nothing else is going on.

McAwful et al. already said what I wanted to say about the cased thing.

Dave

CR, get LaFontaine's book. It is worth what ever it costs. I, too, have caught more trout on caddis imitations than any other. A spentwing caddis imitation is a must when fishing the Delaware system, paticularly the Main. I've had many good evenings during Hendricksons when you would swear the fish are eating spinners, when in fact they are eating spentwing caddis. I use a Partridge Spentwing caddis size 16 and 14 in tan, olive, brown, and bright green. I used to think I was a horrible spinner fisherman til I figured this one out. I also swear by his (LaFontaines) emerger pattern. Caddis, the other white meat!

[C&R]

A caddis larva looks like a segmented worm with 6 legs coming out of its neck. All of the "follicles" along the body are actualy its gills. Caddis build cases to protect themselves the same way a Hermit Crab grabs a shell. Caddis will leave and outgrow their cases. Thus cased and uncased larva.

Follow-up question:

If the follicles (or gills) are part of its body, I don't see how they could protrode through a case. I've been practicing a cased caddis pattern (tied on a straight hook) that has trimmed spiky hackle over its whole body, a little niblet of chartreuse uni-stretch that imitates a larva peeking out of its case, and beard-style hackle. So my question here is that if a caddis is in a case (peeking out) how can its gills be visible outside the case (if that is what the hackle is supposed to represent).

[C&R]

CR, get LaFontaine's book. It is worth what ever it costs.

No way man... that's what I've got you guys for !!
You're more than all the books on fly fishing put together.

I'll probably end up getting LaFontaine's book sometime this year. I still have to finish my other two books that I just got for Christmas, Hatches II and the FTBSR.

[jmoore]

C&R,

The gills do not protrude from the case. There are a number of different cased caddis patterns that use different materials to represent the case... not the gills. The clipped hackle is used to represent sticks or vegetation that the larvae has used to build its case. There is another pattern that uses mixed colors of spun deer hair to represent the case. When the deer hair is clipped it gives a mottled appearance that resembles the different colors of all the little pebbles found on the steam bottom that some species make their cases from. If you find case builders that make their cases out of little stones on the stream you fish, match the color of the material your using for the case to the different colors of the pebbles found in that stream.

Here is a link to the deer hair pattern. This one doesn't use different colors, but you get the idea.