Caddis. Though it is true
that trout prefer eating mayflies to caddis, mayflies (& stoneflies) aren’t
nearly as available as caddis (sedge). And I believe it is true, as Gary
LaFontaine sagely observed, that caddis are the most important streamborn
insect to anglers. And I would add: particularly to soft-hacklers.
That is certainly true of my
home water, where, with a few seasonal exceptions, mayfly hatches are stingy,
sporadic affairs, rarely meeting the hopeful angler’s expectations, while
caddis are on the menu April to November, with spotted sedge, the most
prolific, providing reliable fishing almost daily, June through August.
Spotted sedge (Hydropsyche) is the most prolific
caddis of the West. On my home water spotted sedge peak in early July & by
late August emergers have diminished to a sprinkle just before dark, while,
simultaneously, egg-layers & males emerged from previous nights assemble to
deposit eggs, or, in the case of males, programmed for daily flights over the
water at dusk, fly around until spent enough to fall (dive) into the water, as
if, in their final moments of life, seeking to return to their place of origin.
Living beside the river, a
lot of what’s hatching from the river is attracted to the house lights &
ends up in the house. The kitchen is a convenient place to observe insect
behavior. If there is water left in the sink basin caddis will invariably be
attracted to it, hover above it, then plunge in, breaking the surface film.
These seem perfectly at home under water, able to scoot rapidly, expertly
kicking their legs & gliding, & able to keep that up for several hours
without breathing air, just under the surface film. Once breaking through the
surface tension they never regain the air. And though they are able to swim in
rapid spurts, the buoyancy of the wings seems to prevent them from diving to a
greater depth.
Which leads me to question
the ‘diving down to lay eggs’ behavior often described by angling writers. I’ve
not seen it. I’m seeing females dapping eggs on the water, to my mind a safer
adaptation than having to dive down where there is danger of being eaten, not
to mention the realistic hydrodynamics involved getting so light a being down
more than a few inches in a 6-knot current. I’m just not seeing it. I may be
wrong (& as a human being I reserve the right to change my mind) but my own
observations lead me to think that the ‘diving’ behavior is simply the result
of spent adults going for a final swim. Whatever the case, there are live adult
caddis swimming under the surface film, usually enough to get a handful of
trout up & going, a happy circumstance for the soft-hackler looking for a
thrill on an evening during the dog days of August.
In the early season, trout
prefer emerging pupae to winged adults, but in the late season, with fewer
pupae available, the balance shifts to those spent adults that have been
accumulating around the river, living for up to a month (or more). So late
season is when ‘diving’ patterns come into play. As soft-hackle designs, these
aren’t much different than the emergers I tie. The dark wing holster of the
emerger is a prominent feature of the natural, so I hackle emergers with a
darker wing, a dark brown brahma with heavy black mottling, or a dark mottled
feather taken from a ruffed grouse, meaning the hackle to simulate the wing
holsters as well as an emerging wing & legs. As adult caddis age their
coloration fades somewhat (& the abdomens shrink), hence, I choose a
lighter hackle on flies meant to be fished as an adult spotted sedge, a faded
mottled brown or dun hen.
I carry several variants to
cover adult or ‘diving’ sedge, as trout do exhibit regional, seasonal &
even daily preferences for this one or that one, however, the version featured
today is usually reliable & probably the most universal, as it serves to simulate
a number of species, East & West. The material list for this pattern has
been around for a long time. Ray Bergman described it, & it was probably in
use before his time. I recall John Merwin, writing in the early 1970’s,
extolling the virtues of this pattern fished in the rivers of Vermont
Diving Sedge
Hook: #14 Daiichi 1150 (most
used, a #15-#16 can be tied on this short-shank hook)
Thread: tan UNI 8/0
Abdomen: light olive rabbit
dubbing
Thorax: pinkish-brown fur
dubbing taken from the base of a hare’s ear
Hackle: watery-brown speckled
hen, grouse or partridge, trained back & tied down ~ & finish.
