Tight Lines Fly Fishing: Paul's April 2021 Fly of the Month

Clueless Caddis Dry Dropper Fly

Hook: Size # 12 Barbless Dry Fly Hook of choice.

Thread: 6/0 Olive Thread.

Rib: Tag End of Thread.

Body: Tan/Orange Dry Fly Dubbing.

Underwing: Two Natural CDC Feathers aligned tip to tip. Over which is synthetic Wing Material such as Antron, Trigger Point, or McFlylon.

Over Wing: Deer or Elk Hair.

Finish: High N Dry Liquid Fly Floatant.

I don’t know why I don’t fish dry dropper rigs more. I’m going to make an effort to do it a lot more this coming year. When I was out to Montana, other fly guys I ran into were all fishing a ‘Hopper & dropper’ set up. While hoppers do catch fish here in New England, I was looking for a dry fly with enough ‘floatability’ for my dropper, and also one that mimicked flies on my home waters. Friend Mike Shannon fishes a dry dropper set up a lot. His lead dry fly is tied with a large amount of CDC and floats like a cork. It’s what led me to this fly. Since I’ve been doing the Fly of the Month. I try to pick patterns where materials can be substituted or aren’t that difficult to obtain. So it’s somewhat unusual that I strongly recommend a specific fly finish. High N Dry Liquid Floatant does a fantastic job adding to the ‘floatability’ of the fly. If there is another fly treatment you prefer, then use that.

To tie this fly begin your thread approximately ¼ hook shank length behind the eye. You need to leave a long tag end of the thread that will be used as your rib. Wrap your thread back to the bend of the hook. You’re now going to dub your body. You can use a dry fly dubbing of your choice. At times I’ve used a CDC dubbing or made my body from a CDC dubbing brush. The choice is yours. After creating your body that will end at your tie in point, take open wraps with the tag end of the thread. This will create a segmented body. After tying and cutting off the tag end of the thread, you are now ready to tie on your Under wing & Over wing. There’s a lot of material that goes into the wing of the fly which is why leaving space behind the eye is so important. Begin your Underwing by aligning two CDC feathers at their tips. Tie them in at the top of the hook shank. They should be slightly longer than the body of the fly. Cut off the but ends of the CDC feathers and even things out with additional thread wraps & dubbing. Be careful not to use too much.) Now tie in your Antron Wing material. You are going to double the material over your tying thread. Tie in ½ first, then lay the forward strand back with the first. Leave it long for now. We will trim it at the end. Again, even things out with additional thread wraps & dubbing. (Be careful not to use too much. There’s a lot going onto the wing.) Now tie in your Elk or Deer Hair Wing. The technique is exactly the same as tying any ‘Elk Hair Caddis’. Tie off and cut your thread. Then trim the butt ends of your elk or deer hair. Now, trim your Antron Wing so that it is slightly longer than the other wing materials. You’re almost done. A very important component of this fly is to ‘pre-treat’ it with High N Dry Liquid Fly Floatant or a similar treatment of your choice. I dip my flies and let them dry overnight. Your now good to go and use it in your ‘dry dropper rig’.

Trout Yeah has a great instructional video on how to tie this fly below: