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| Miasmic October Caddis tied by Steven Bird |
It wouldn’t do to go into the Fall season
without tying some October caddis pupa-emerger patterns. Writer-angler Gary
LaFontaine considered this hatch one of the most important to those seeking big
trout, & I agree with him on that one.
There are at least four subspecies of the giant Fall caddis (Dicosmoecus) in the West; fairly similar in size & habit. Coloration varies somewhat, with abdomen coloration ranging from cream-yellow through shades of peach to deep pumpkin & rusty orange. In some watersheds nymphs exhibit an olive cast. Thorax areas of mature pupa I’ve sampled seem universally brownish with dark brown to black wing holsters. The wings of adults vary from spotted golden-tan to almost black. The one native to my homewater is pumpkin-orange, with black wings flecked with russet or gray, simulated very well with dark turkey tail. Mature pupae darken very quickly to the color of adults at the time of emergence. If you’ve not seen pupae at your target stream, but you’ve seen adults, then you have a good idea what color the pupae will be at maturity.
October caddis are case-builders, inhabiting all types of streams, slow to fast, more or less. We see them gathered along the edge of the stream in mid-summer, where they attach to stones or debris, seal off the case & pupate for about two months. At maturity, pupae chew through the door & crawl toward shore or swim to the surface to complete emergence. These are wide-spread, adaptable, tough insects. I am not an entomologist (I am a bait man), my observations are parking lot anecdotal & based on my own experiences astream, nonetheless, there by fortune, I’ve encountered & fished over October caddis from So.
October caddis emerge from late August
through November, with peak season September & October, & I have seen
them emerge from coastal streams through the winter months. With the rare
exception, we seldom encounter big hatches of these. October caddis are what I
call a ‘seasonal hatch’. They are a presence & available through their
emergence period & trout are used to finding them in the drift.
Trout eat all stages of OC, though, in my own experience, the adult pupa, the
most vulnerable stage, is the most worthwhile to imitate, with the adult (dry)
a middling second, though big fun when fish are in the mood, & I always
give them a try.
Miasmic October Caddis Pupa
Hook: #8-#10 (I like TMC 200R or an up-eye steelhead/salmon hook
Thread: Black
Rib: Copper
wire wound over the abdomen
Abdomen: Pumpkin-orange antron/rabbit blend cut with a pinch of Wapsi sulfur
yellow (has a chartreuse-y olive cast) superfine dubbing, applied to a dubbing
loop of yellow poly/cotton sewing thread
Thorax: puff
taken from the base of a dyed-brown mallard flank feather arranged around the
hook shank as a collar – should extend to about the middle of the abdomen – you
can pinch away any excess – I use orange puff on coastal versions
meant for steelhead & sea-run cutthroat
Hackle: Brown church
window cock ringneck pheasant body feather
Head: Dyed-brown
hare’s mask with guard hairs twisted on the tying thread
I weight mine with copper or lead wire
under the thorax area. For a quicker build-up (& saves tying thread), I
begin the fly with the yellow sewing thread used for the dubbing loop, tying
in the copper wire for the rib, shaping the body & forming the loop before
tying in the black thread at the hook eye.