Paul's November 2021 Bonus Fly of the Month

 Spent Early Smoky-Winged Caddis

 

Hook:  Size #18 1X Dry Fly Hook.

Thread:  Black.

Body:  Brown Super Fine Dry Fly Dubbing.

Wing:  Western Caddis Grey EP Trigger Point Fibers or similar wing material.

 Hook:  Size #18 1X Dry Fly Hook.

This is a great spent caddis pattern that floats flat in the surface film.  The design mimics how spent caddis lay splayed on the surface with their two (2) sets of wings.  This fly has caught a lot of trout for me. 

 

To tie this fly, begin by debarbing the hook and placing it in your vice.  Tie in your thread leaving an eye length space behind the eye.  Cut the tag end and wrap back on the shank to the hook point.  Now dub a slender noodle of Brown Super Fine Dry Fly Dubbing.  Start your body at the hook bend.  Before wrapping the body with ‘touching’ wraps, twist your dubbing noodle in a clockwise direction.  You want to compress it so that when you wrap forward it results in a tapered segmented body.  Your body should end slightly behind the eye of the hook. 

 

Now take a wrap or two back on the fly body.  Your thread should be approximately an ‘eye length and ½’ behind the hook eye.  Next, cut and prepare a sparse amount of wing material.  For a size #18 fly, the length should be approximately 3” long.  Tie it in on the far side of the hook with 1 ½” extending beyond the hook eye.  Once tied in, form a loop beyond the hook eye and anchor the wing material on the other side of the hook.  After making some securing wings, you might want to apply a small drop of super glue on the thread wraps where the wings intersect. Next dub a small noodle to cover the thread wraps that bind down the fibers.  Now pull the front wing loop back and take a few wraps of thread in front of it.  Do a 4-5 wrap whip finish and trim off your thread.  Pull your wing loop back forward into a horizontal position in front of the eye.  You’re now going to trim the wings of the fly.  Take your rear wings and pull them back.  Trim them off so that they extend just beyond the hook bend.  At the front of the fly simply clip off the top part of the loop to create much smaller wings that point forward.   

 

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

If you have any questions about this fly or would like to submit a Fly of

The Month I can be reached at 203 305-3850 or e-mail me at pdinice@frontier.com .