Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
Ahhhh … April in Paris. The good life. Chestnuts in blossom. A sunny sidewalk café. Spring’s warm embrace. Could anything be finer? How about the warm embrace of a knock-your-socks-off spring caddis hatch? One that jolts you from winter’s coma. One that reveals just how many trout a stream really holds. One with frenzied fish nosed up in the riffles, chasing pupae, slashing at emergers, nipping at your toes.
Spring is caddis time in trout country. A succession of hatches in April and May offers some of the best dry-fly fishing of the year. The main event begins in mid-April with the American grannom, a group of Brachycentrus species found all over the country. In the west, they’re called Mother’s Day caddis, and hatches are legendary. In the east, they’re called grannoms, black caddis, apple caddis, or shadflies. Around here, grannoms, black caddis, or (incorrectly) little black caddis are the most common names.
The Hairwing Caddis is an excellent fly when caddisflies are on the wing. It is a “damp” fly (part wet, part dry) that floats low in the surface buoyed by its wing of hollow deer or elk hair. The Hairwing Caddis imitates caddis pupae transitioning at the surface into adults. Low floating flies are usually more effective than high floaters for emerging caddis, which pause only briefly at the surface before flying away. Knowing this, trout chase caddis emergers recklessly. If you see splashy rises or leaping trout in or just downstream of a riffle but don’t see any bugs on the water, think “caddis hatch”. The next thought should be, “This is going to be great!”. Calm your nerves, take a couple of deep breaths, and tie on a Hairwing Caddis.
The wings of many old English caddis patterns are bundled feather barbs or animal hair. For example, G.E.M. Skues’ Little Red Sedge inspired generations of later fly patterns. Like most English dry flies, though, it is floated by a collar of stiff rooster hackle. Using hollow deer or elk hair to provide both a wing profile and good floatation is an American modification of these English designs. Such flies appear to have developed independently several times. Sid Neff, Jerry Alvoledo, Snook Moore, Bob Bean, and probably others tied flies similar to the Hairwing Caddis in the 1950s through 1970s. The first published recipe of a hackle-free caddis dry fly floated explicitly by deer hair is credited to Sid Neff, a Pennsylvania bookbinder and former art director of Trout magazine. Neff’s Hairwing Caddis, published in Leiser and Solomon’s 1977 book The Caddis and the Angler, is a model of simplicity. Other than a hook and thread, it has but two ingredients: dubbing and deer hair. The sloping profile of hair imitates the tent-like wings of a caddisfly, and the indistinct silhouette suggests fluttering of a natural. Tied in differing sizes and colors, Hairwing Caddis imitate caddisflies, stoneflies, alder flies, grasshoppers, and other insects whose wings are held down atop the body.
A Hairwing Caddis is the foundation for many popular adaptations. Add a tail of sparkly nylon fibers, and you’ve got Craig Mathews’ very effective ‘X Caddis’. Add a collar of dry-fly hackle, and you’ve got a Peacock Caddis or Soloman Hairwing. Palmer the body with hackle, and you’ve got Al Troth’s ubiquitous Elk Hair Caddis. Add a touch of your own ingenuity, and you’ve got a fly ready-made for the caddis of spring. The only way to go wrong with low-floating caddis imitations is to not fish one.
If you’re wondering what to get mom for Mother’s Day, try a big hug and heartfelt “thank you” for gifting the world with her magnificent caddis hatch around May 1st. After the caddis have waned and fishing slows, then take her to Paris.
Copyright 2022, Rusty Dunn
Hairwing Caddis
Grannoms of the Driftless are about size #17 (give or take a little) and have dark olive/dun bodies with darkly mottled wings. Adult caddisflies exhibit a reverse taper, with the rear of the body being larger than the front.
| Hook: |
Dry fly, #12-20, depending on the natural |
| Thread: |
Uni 8/0, color to match the natural |
| Body: |
Dry fly dubbing, color to match the natural. Use fairly coarse dubbing and add a pinch of sparkly Antron. |
| Wings: |
Light or dark deer or elk hair, to match the natural’s wing; length approximately to the hook bend |
Hairwing Caddis
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Last Updated: March 11, 2022 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
Ahhhh … April in Paris. The good life. Chestnuts in blossom. A sunny sidewalk café. Spring’s warm embrace. Could anything be finer? How about the warm embrace of a knock-your-socks-off spring caddis hatch? One that jolts you from winter’s coma. One that reveals just how many trout a stream really holds. One with frenzied fish nosed up in the riffles, chasing pupae, slashing at emergers, nipping at your toes.
Spring is caddis time in trout country. A succession of hatches in April and May offers some of the best dry-fly fishing of the year. The main event begins in mid-April with the American grannom, a group of Brachycentrus species found all over the country. In the west, they’re called Mother’s Day caddis, and hatches are legendary. In the east, they’re called grannoms, black caddis, apple caddis, or shadflies. Around here, grannoms, black caddis, or (incorrectly) little black caddis are the most common names.
The Hairwing Caddis is an excellent fly when caddisflies are on the wing. It is a “damp” fly (part wet, part dry) that floats low in the surface buoyed by its wing of hollow deer or elk hair. The Hairwing Caddis imitates caddis pupae transitioning at the surface into adults. Low floating flies are usually more effective than high floaters for emerging caddis, which pause only briefly at the surface before flying away. Knowing this, trout chase caddis emergers recklessly. If you see splashy rises or leaping trout in or just downstream of a riffle but don’t see any bugs on the water, think “caddis hatch”. The next thought should be, “This is going to be great!”. Calm your nerves, take a couple of deep breaths, and tie on a Hairwing Caddis.
The wings of many old English caddis patterns are bundled feather barbs or animal hair. For example, G.E.M. Skues’ Little Red Sedge inspired generations of later fly patterns. Like most English dry flies, though, it is floated by a collar of stiff rooster hackle. Using hollow deer or elk hair to provide both a wing profile and good floatation is an American modification of these English designs. Such flies appear to have developed independently several times. Sid Neff, Jerry Alvoledo, Snook Moore, Bob Bean, and probably others tied flies similar to the Hairwing Caddis in the 1950s through 1970s. The first published recipe of a hackle-free caddis dry fly floated explicitly by deer hair is credited to Sid Neff, a Pennsylvania bookbinder and former art director of Trout magazine. Neff’s Hairwing Caddis, published in Leiser and Solomon’s 1977 book The Caddis and the Angler, is a model of simplicity. Other than a hook and thread, it has but two ingredients: dubbing and deer hair. The sloping profile of hair imitates the tent-like wings of a caddisfly, and the indistinct silhouette suggests fluttering of a natural. Tied in differing sizes and colors, Hairwing Caddis imitate caddisflies, stoneflies, alder flies, grasshoppers, and other insects whose wings are held down atop the body.
A Hairwing Caddis is the foundation for many popular adaptations. Add a tail of sparkly nylon fibers, and you’ve got Craig Mathews’ very effective ‘X Caddis’. Add a collar of dry-fly hackle, and you’ve got a Peacock Caddis or Soloman Hairwing. Palmer the body with hackle, and you’ve got Al Troth’s ubiquitous Elk Hair Caddis. Add a touch of your own ingenuity, and you’ve got a fly ready-made for the caddis of spring. The only way to go wrong with low-floating caddis imitations is to not fish one.
If you’re wondering what to get mom for Mother’s Day, try a big hug and heartfelt “thank you” for gifting the world with her magnificent caddis hatch around May 1st. After the caddis have waned and fishing slows, then take her to Paris.
Copyright 2022, Rusty Dunn
Hairwing Caddis
Grannoms of the Driftless are about size #17 (give or take a little) and have dark olive/dun bodies with darkly mottled wings. Adult caddisflies exhibit a reverse taper, with the rear of the body being larger than the front.
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Category: Fly Tying, Rusty Dunn Fountains of Youth
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