Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
The hopes and dreams of most dry fly anglers rest on the shoulders of but two groups of insects, the mayflies and the caddisflies. Admittedly, stoneflies, midges, and terrestrials have their moments of glory, but day in and day out, mayflies and caddisflies are the bread and butter of fly fishing. But look inside your fly boxes. Are the bread and the butter equally represented? Probably not.
Most anglers practice what authors with influence preach, and mayflies have been the darlings of fly fishing books for centuries. Caddisflies and other insect orders received just recognition in recent decades, but mayflies still enjoy an inherited legacy of privilege and prominence. For example, fly tyers often discuss mayflies in code (aka. Latin names) and dwell on minute details of size, color, form, and behavior. They carry multiple fly boxes onstream, each devoted to a single mayfly species. Those boxes, furthermore, hold flies of immense variety. High floating, low floating, half submerged, wings held up, wings held back, forward, or sideways, no wings, no hackle, hair hackle, reverse hackle, and on and on. Such is the legacy of mayfly privilege.
But what of caddisflies? Latin is rarely spoken when discussing them, and caddis patterns are correspondingly simpler. A handful of generic imitations tied in varying sizes and colors, plus a smattering of larval and pupal imitations are sufficient for most anglers. This simplicity of approach does not stem from a lack of caddisfly diversity. Entomologists estimate that North America is home to ~1,400 aquatic caddisfly species, which is twice the estimated number of mayfly species. Being of simpler design and with reduced variety, are our caddis imitations less effective than our mayfly imitations? Should we be more precisely imitative when tying caddis patterns? Or alternatively, should we be less concerned with the details of mayfly imitation? These are questions best answered by your own experiences, rather than by opinions of some author with influence. In the words of the great G.E.M. Skues,
“An authority is a person engaged in the invidious business of stereotyping and disseminating information, frequently incorrect. Never believe a thing you are told about fishing until you have proved it, not only once, but over and over again.”
Caddis dry flies come in two basic designs: (i) high floating patterns that imitate adults drifting or laying eggs atop the surface, and (ii) low floating designs that are awash in the surface film and imitate emergers and spent caddis. Examples of high floating designs include the Bivisible, Henryville Special, and Elk Hair Caddis. Examples of low floaters include the Goddard Caddis, X Caddis, and CDC & Elk.
The most popular caddisfly imitation today is probably Al Troth’s Elk Hair Caddis, a high floating design floated by stiff rooster hackle palmered along the full length of the body. Troth credits G.E.M. Skues and his Little Red Sedge for inspiration when designing the Elk Hair Caddis in 1957. Troth admired the excellent floatation of the Little Red Sedge and the way in which Skues secured the palmered body hackle with fine gold wire. Troth replaced Skues’ wing of feather barbs with a material more easily obtained, and he eliminated the collar of hackle. Otherwise, the patterns are much the same.
Skues is most famous for his pioneering contributions to imitative nymph fishing, but the Little Red Sedge is one of his most famous flies. Its wing of rolled feather barbs is lightweight, durable, and presents a strong tent-like wing profile. The fly floats exceptionally well even in turbulent riffles, which are usually rich in caddisflies. Leslie Magee, author of Fly Fishing, the North Country Tradition describes the Little Red Sedge as “the best ever all round dry fly for North Country streams and for rough streams anywhere“. Skues himself describes it as, “without exception, the most killing fly I have used on chalk streams at all times when (mayflies are) not hatching“. Skues popularized high floating caddis imitations, but he did not claim to be the originator of the Little Red Sedge. Indeed, it is very similar to the Red Sedge of H. Chomodeley-Pennel, published in his 1885 book Fishing – Salmon and Trout.
Copyright 2018, Rusty Dunn
Little Red Sedge
Landrail is a protected species and substituted here by feather barbs of wood duck flank.
| Hook: |
Dry fly, #14 |
| Thread: |
Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, hot orange |
| Body Hackle: |
Red-brown rooster; length to hook
point or less |
| Rib: |
Fine gold wire |
| Body: |
Dark hare’s ear spun on tying silk |
| Wings: |
Feather barbs of a landrail wing, bunched and rolled |
| Collar Hackle: |
Red-brown rooster; length slightly longer than body hackle |
Little Red Sedge
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Last Updated: March 8, 2018 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
The hopes and dreams of most dry fly anglers rest on the shoulders of but two groups of insects, the mayflies and the caddisflies. Admittedly, stoneflies, midges, and terrestrials have their moments of glory, but day in and day out, mayflies and caddisflies are the bread and butter of fly fishing. But look inside your fly boxes. Are the bread and the butter equally represented? Probably not.
Most anglers practice what authors with influence preach, and mayflies have been the darlings of fly fishing books for centuries. Caddisflies and other insect orders received just recognition in recent decades, but mayflies still enjoy an inherited legacy of privilege and prominence. For example, fly tyers often discuss mayflies in code (aka. Latin names) and dwell on minute details of size, color, form, and behavior. They carry multiple fly boxes onstream, each devoted to a single mayfly species. Those boxes, furthermore, hold flies of immense variety. High floating, low floating, half submerged, wings held up, wings held back, forward, or sideways, no wings, no hackle, hair hackle, reverse hackle, and on and on. Such is the legacy of mayfly privilege.
But what of caddisflies? Latin is rarely spoken when discussing them, and caddis patterns are correspondingly simpler. A handful of generic imitations tied in varying sizes and colors, plus a smattering of larval and pupal imitations are sufficient for most anglers. This simplicity of approach does not stem from a lack of caddisfly diversity. Entomologists estimate that North America is home to ~1,400 aquatic caddisfly species, which is twice the estimated number of mayfly species. Being of simpler design and with reduced variety, are our caddis imitations less effective than our mayfly imitations? Should we be more precisely imitative when tying caddis patterns? Or alternatively, should we be less concerned with the details of mayfly imitation? These are questions best answered by your own experiences, rather than by opinions of some author with influence. In the words of the great G.E.M. Skues,
“An authority is a person engaged in the invidious business of stereotyping and disseminating information, frequently incorrect. Never believe a thing you are told about fishing until you have proved it, not only once, but over and over again.”
Caddis dry flies come in two basic designs: (i) high floating patterns that imitate adults drifting or laying eggs atop the surface, and (ii) low floating designs that are awash in the surface film and imitate emergers and spent caddis. Examples of high floating designs include the Bivisible, Henryville Special, and Elk Hair Caddis. Examples of low floaters include the Goddard Caddis, X Caddis, and CDC & Elk.
The most popular caddisfly imitation today is probably Al Troth’s Elk Hair Caddis, a high floating design floated by stiff rooster hackle palmered along the full length of the body. Troth credits G.E.M. Skues and his Little Red Sedge for inspiration when designing the Elk Hair Caddis in 1957. Troth admired the excellent floatation of the Little Red Sedge and the way in which Skues secured the palmered body hackle with fine gold wire. Troth replaced Skues’ wing of feather barbs with a material more easily obtained, and he eliminated the collar of hackle. Otherwise, the patterns are much the same.
Skues is most famous for his pioneering contributions to imitative nymph fishing, but the Little Red Sedge is one of his most famous flies. Its wing of rolled feather barbs is lightweight, durable, and presents a strong tent-like wing profile. The fly floats exceptionally well even in turbulent riffles, which are usually rich in caddisflies. Leslie Magee, author of Fly Fishing, the North Country Tradition describes the Little Red Sedge as “the best ever all round dry fly for North Country streams and for rough streams anywhere“. Skues himself describes it as, “without exception, the most killing fly I have used on chalk streams at all times when (mayflies are) not hatching“. Skues popularized high floating caddis imitations, but he did not claim to be the originator of the Little Red Sedge. Indeed, it is very similar to the Red Sedge of H. Chomodeley-Pennel, published in his 1885 book Fishing – Salmon and Trout.
Copyright 2018, Rusty Dunn
Little Red Sedge
Landrail is a protected species and substituted here by feather barbs of wood duck flank.
point or less
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Category: Fly Tying, Rusty Dunn Fountains of Youth
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