Ahhh, mid- Feb but a beautiful day.  Steve Campbell of Big Ridge and I drove up from Chattanooga for the day.  Steve is just getting back into fly fishing and fishing for trout after a several year hiatus.  Like me, Steve grew up in WV fishing those beautiful and natural mountain streams.

We arrived at about 10:00 AM with the temperature already exceeding 50 degrees with a bright Sun filling the car.  We had hoped for some clouds and BWO’s.  We did not find the BWO’s but found ourselves in the beginnings of three hours of Caddis egg-laying.   The Black Caddis were hovering 1” to 6” above the water.  This activity is wonderful to watch.  Not only do the trout get very aggressive but actually leave the water to try to catch the caddis in flight. 

This is a fly fisher’s dream!  No worries about drag-in fact, the imitations were most effective on the swing as the fly skittered across the water.  This type of fishing requires a caddis imitation that is very light and water resistant.  Though the traditional elk hair caddis will work, a caddis that mimics the in-flight “wing-buzz” of the caddis in flight works best. 

I tie this wing-buzz imitation on a #18 standard dry fly hook.  I use black foam (does not absorb water) bound down with black thread for the body and dun snowshoe foot hair for the wing.  This fuzzy wing imitates the buzz and the snowshoe foot hair is naturally water repellant.  I also coat the fly with Frog’s Fanny to enhance and recover floatation.  You see many black caddis tied with a black body and wing.  The natural on the Taccoa has a black body and a dun wing which can actually look tan in direct sunlight.  Follow this link to see the caddis tied in different color combinations using Snowhoe.  http://flyangler.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=32

I believe that the “Usual” invited by Fran Betters mimics this egg-laying Caddis activity on the famed Ausable in NY.

It was a great day—Steve hooked or landed 19 with the largest being a healthy 13” brown.  I was not counting but had another wonderful day on the river watching a friend get “re-hooked” on the dry fly.

Col. Roger L. Duckworth (Ret)