I love September – crisp
mornings & the aspens flaring like yellow candles on the higher slopes. For
those of us afflicted with melancholus
habitus, September is the most exquisitely melancholic month of the year. Life
has emerged from summer’s oven & cooled to a glorious apple cake that will,
all too soon, become a memory in winter.
For trouters, the emergence
of giant, pumpkin orange Dicosmoecus (fall
sedge, fall caddis, October caddis) are right up there with the best of reasons
for loving September, in my neighborhood & to my mind. This is my favorite
insect. With a five eighths to three quarter inch body & the wing around an
inch to one & a quarter inch long, it is a large, handsome bug, lending itself
to a number of imitative possibilities. I play with these through the season.
Wet versions work well as swung flies &, for me, these most often out-fish
dry versions of October caddis. The one
featured here has been working well on the swing.
Hook: #6 TMC 200R
Thread: rust brown UNI 8/0
Body: Umpqua
October caddis blend dubbed on a loop of the tying thread – & a bit of
squirrel dubbed over the thorax area
Wing (optional): turkey tail
Hackle: gadwall/orange dyed
guinea hen/brahma hen ~ & finish.
