Here’s another caddis design that I find exceptional. Others have fished it with shot like a nymph, pulled it under and fished it with a rapid retrieve, and many other ways. It’s one of my favorites for the Down Dry/Up Wet tactic discussed in Fishing the Film. All you need is some deer hair and a little dubbing. The illustrations are by Jason Borger, taken from my book, Designing Trout Flies (1991).

Wrap the shank eye to bend and back with thread. End with thread about 3 head spaces behind the eye (one head space = length of eye). Tie in a clump of deer hair with the tips pointing rearward just long enough to form a short tail on the fly. Secure the clump tightly at the front and then spiral the thread rearward and secure the hair tightly at the rear of the shank. NOTE: at this point, stop and add the body dubbing to the thread, leave an inch or two of bare thread between the hook and the starting point of the dubbing.

This is what the fly looks like after the hair is secured front and back.

Grasp the butt ends of the hair and fold the clump tightly back over the top of the body. NOTE: don't let go! Use the thread to secure the clump tightly at the rear of the fly. When the dubbing reaches the body, wrap it forward to secure the deer hair of the body. NOTE: Keep a good grip on the butt ends of the deer hair all this while.

Once the dubbing is in place, fold the hair forward over the top of the body and secure tightly at the head. Clip the butt ends of the hair to about 1/2 the length of the shell back. Coat the back of the fly with several applications of flexible head cement.

[JB here, guest posting for GB today—hey, it’s Father’s Day, so I’ll do the work for the “old guy”] I’ve gotten a few emails from people asking about Reading Waters and potential Father’s Day availability. Well, it’s Father’s Day, and I can confirm two things: 1) The book is coming off the press (GB already has some copies), and 2) The order page isn’t ready to go. Which brings me to a third thing: GB is a sucker for punishment.

Actually, GB has offered to take your money and send you a signed book directly starting today and going until the order page is officially up and running. We’re hoping that the page will be up this coming week, so if you want an early copy give GB a shout, pronto: gary (at) garyborger (dot) com (or just use that “Contact Gary” link up there in the header). He’ll get you a PayPal invoice (you can pay with a credit card) and you can go from there. Books are going for $25 shipped in the U.S. (special price), and another price shipped everywhere else (just ask GB about that). Again, the offer stands only until the Reading Waters order page is up and running.

Thanks for your patience, and have a good Father’s Day.

I just received sad news that my friend, Jack Charlton, died on June 9th. He was a reel designer and builder of unmatched ability. Another friend, Capt. Jake Jordan, wrote a great eulogy for Jack, and I share it here with you.

The passing of my friend Jack Charlton:

On Friday morning June 10, I received a call from Judy Charlton with the shocking, sad news that my good friend and business associate Jack Charlton had passed away from an unexpected illness on June 9, 2011. My heart is filled with sadness and my eyes with tears as I write about this wonderful man, who showed passion for everything which he liked in life. Jack was one smart man, who exuded integrity, honesty, and  unending love for his wonderful wife Judy. He also had a passion for sailing the high seas, and spending quality time with friends and family.

Jack will be remembered by those in the fly fishing industry as the person who engineered, designed, built, and fished, with the finest fly reels in existence. His Charlton signature fly reels were world class, Jack gave me my first one in 1995. When he told me that he was going to “do it one more time” in late 2004 (Mako Reels), I was thrilled. Jack and Judy Charlton’s Mako fly reels are recognized as the standard of excellence today in the fly reel world, Jack will be missed.

Just last year Jack, Judy, and several friends joined me for a rare (for Jack and Judy) vacation to Guatemala, it was Jack’s dream for Judy to catch a Sailfish on fly, on a Mako fly reel. Well Judy caught a really big fish on that reel, and Jack was so proud, he captured that fight on his new hi def camera. There are many things that I can say about Jack Charlton, but mostly I am proud to say that he was my friend , I feel like I have lost a family member, and I will miss him a lot. Please keep Jack, and Judy in your prayers.

– Jake Jordan

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Woolly-Worm-looking insect. Several in fact. They are all larva of various aquatic insects, including The Hellgrammite, fishfly larvae, various beetle larvae, alderfly larvae, and the larvae of the aquatic moths. All of them have many lateral appendages that are nicely simulated by the palmered hackle of the Woolly Worm fly. I designed an imitation using hair legs rather than a palmered hackle that also works A-OK for large stonefly nymphs and dragonfly nymphs as well. I’ve even fished it on a jigging swing or other bottom tactic as a sculpin or stickleback imitation. It has proven to be as good fly in many situations. The artwork below is by Jason Borger, and is taken from my book, Designing Trout Flies (1991).

Tie the Hair Leg Woolly Worm on 3X to 5X long hooks. Tie in a tail of hair and a piece of wire for the rib.

Build the body of coarse dubbing spun in a loop and trimmed to shape. Counterwind the rib to reenforce the body.

The collar is coarse dubbing spun in a loop and left untrimmed.

While the mayflies are hatching well, now in this warm weather, the caddises are not being left behind. One of the adult caddis patterns that I use is the Poly Caddis. It’s easy to tie, rides well in the surface film, and has the glint of reality in the winging material. It can be readily dressed in any needed size. Like the mayfly dun and spinner patterns, I tie this one with a bend  hook, which keeps the wing more flat along the top of the hook and snuggles the thorax right into the surface. It lands wing up every time.

Bend the front 1/4 to 1/3 of the shank upward. Dub on the thorax, tie in a hackle, wind it X style, and clip it off the top of the fly.

Comb a strand of poly yarn to separate and straighten the fibers and tie it in just ahead of the hackle. Clip to length. Clip the butt end of the wing to form a short head. Place a nice-sized drop of thin, flexible head cement on the thread of the head, the base of the wing and the clipped butt end of the wing. Cut the hackle off the bottom of the fly.

Our weather has gone from cool and rainy to hot and then some with powerful T-sotrms, hail, and tornadoes in only a few days. Today, June 7, the temp. in north central Wisconsin will hit 91-93. That’s August weather. Of course it has really played a mind game with the hatches. The Hendrickson’s which had been fading suddenly gave way to the Pale Evening Dun (also called the Light Hendrickson). This Ephemerella mayfly (usually E. rotunda and E. invaria) is not the true sulphur (E. dorothea) but looks quite similar, and is one hook size larger. As a consequence, one can use the same fly designs and colors for both.

My favorite imitation during the hatch is not the dun, but a stage 5 emerger imitation I call the Wet/Dry Fly. It started out as a wet fly (as classic soft hackle) and ended up one of my most favorite dry flies for smaller mayflies. It’s lethal in the PMD hatch, the Pale Evening Dun hatch, the Baetis hatch, and others. The body is dubbing of the color of the adult. The hackle is a soft bird body feather of the color of the insect’s wings. Not much to it (only one more reason to love it). I put fly floatant on it and fish it right up on top (actually it rides awash in the film).

Sizxe 16 for the Pale Evening Dun and size 18 for the Sulphur. Dub on the body. Strip the marabou fluff off the bottom of the hackling feather, stroke the fibers backward, clip off the very tip of the feather, leaving a small triangle of fibers right at the tip. Tie in the triangle tip in preparation for winding the hackle.

Wind the hackle, tie it off, and finish the fly. Winding the feather tip first gives you a nice solid feather shaft to grab onto with the hackle pliers and gives the fly a cleaner appearance. A good drop of thin, flexible head cement on the thread of the head and the base of the hackle will make the fly very tough indeed.

When dressing dun imitations in sizes 16 and smaller, the tyer has a serious challenge: Tying a fly that is close to the weight of the natural. Even the weight of the hook is equal to or greater than the weight of such small insects.  So for these small duns I like to use a loop wing that gives a great profile with a minimum of weight.

Bend the front 1/3 of the hook shank upward. Tie in a fan tail, dub on the thorax, and tie in a small clump of poly yarn, mallard flank feather fibers, or any other fibrous material..

Tie in a hackle and wind it X-style over the thorax.

Loop the wing over the thorax and secure it at the head with 3 wraps of thread.

Pull on the butt ends of a few fibers to make smaller loops inside the main loop, then secure the butt end of the wing with several more tight wraps of thread, finish the head in front of the wing butt. Trim the butt ends of the winging fibers to make a short head. Cut the hackle off the bottom of the fly. Place a large drop of thin, flexible head cement on the thread of the head so that it soaks into the base of the wing.

When I wrote Designing Trout Flies in 1991, I had not yet discovered Twinkle Organza as a winging material. It was up to Bob Brooks, then manager of the Hot Creek Ranch, to show me this material one July when I was there with Nancy and Jason to fish the Trico spinner fall. His little imitation with the Twinkle Organza wing out fished every fly I had, and the Twinkle Wing Spinner became a part of my fishing vocabulary and fly tying efforts.

But Twinkle Organza was very hard to apply to larger flies because the fibers wouldn’t flare very much. On a tiny Trico Imitation even a tiny bit of flare is enough. But on a size 12 Hendrickson, a little flare is certainly not enough. I tried many different approaches to make the fibers flare, and finally hit upon a method that works every time. It’s easy to do and makes a most delicious looking spinner. Furthermore, I added the bent shank hook approach that I use on the duns and found it to help the fly snuggle into the film like the natural. Here’s the secret.

The X-Wing Spinner that I showed in Ddsigning Trout Flies is a very good spinner imitation, only one notch below the Twinkle Wing Spinner. It has a fan tail, dubbed body, and hackle wound X-style and trimmed top and bottom. The above illustration is by Jason Borger from Designing Trout Flies.

Typically on larger hooks I use the handles of my scissors to bend the front of the hook upward. On small hooks I use a pair of fine needle nose pliers.

For a spinner I bend the front 1/4 of the shank upward. The wing will lie in the bend.

Apply a fan tail, dub on the abdomen, and then tie a 1/4 inch wide strip of Twinkle Organza onto the hook, right at the bend in the thorax. The strip should be longer than the wings. Note the dubbing on the thread, ready to be used to make the thorax once the wings have been locked in tightly with figure 8 wraps of thread.

Pull the winging material back and clip both wings at one time. Make them as long as the rear of the hook bend. Then use a dubbing brush to comb out the cross fibers in the wings.

Twinkle Organza is a super-trigger that will draw a fish out of its feeding lane. Wing this tying tactic it can be used on any of the medium to large spinner imitations as well as on the tiny stuff.

Of all the medium-sized mayfly designs that I’ve fished over the years, this one is the best. Its single wing causes the fly to slide aerodynamically through the air when cast. The poly yarn of the wing sparkles and twinkles like the wing of the natural while still allowing some light to pass through. The fan tail holds the imitation’s butt up, and the “X” style hackle–wound over the thorax and clipped on the bottom—suggests the positioning of the natural’s legs better than any other hackling style. Bending the front third of the hook up a bit causes the fly to plop down on its thorax, wing up every time.

First, the illustrations that Jason did for my book, Designing Trout Flies (1991). Anout 10 years after the publication of  that book, I began bending the shank to position the fly more precisely in the film. I’ve shown the new look in the four photos that follow the illustrations.

I start the thread about in the mid point of the shank, wrap to the rear and form a lump of thread just onto the bend of the hook.

The tail fibers are tied in just ahead of the thread lump. The thread is wrapped back tight to the lump to fan the tail.

Dub on the abdomen, tie in a hackle feather, dub on the thorax.

Wind the hackle "X"-style.

"X" forward and rearward and use up the entire hackle feather. Only one feather is needed.

Comb the poly yarn before tying it in so that the fibers flare nicely. Finish the head in front of the wing butt.

Trim the wing butt the same length as the hook eye and trim the wing with one snip of the scissors.

Cut the hackle off the bottom of the fly.

Tail, abdomen, thorax in placed, hackle feather tied in. Note the bent hook shape.

"X" hackle in place.

Wing tied in.

The finished fly. It plops in with the thorax right down in the surface film, wing upright every time. Put a healthy drop of thin flexible head cement right where the wing is tied in. It will soak into the wing, the thread, and the wing butts and keep everything nicely in shape.

When the fish get picky in the Hendrickson hatch, it’s time to give them the emerger. The one I use is easy to tie, gets right down in the film at the fish’s level, and looks just right. It uses a dubbing ball for the unfolding wing pads. This is a technique that I first saw on an emerger design by Rene Harrop. Combined with the parachute hackle, this style really give the fish a best “first impression.”

Tie in a fan tail, add the body, tie in a hackle, and add gray dubbing to the thread. Taper the gray dubbing to either end.

Hold the thread straight up above the hook, push the dubbing down onto the hook, wrap trhe thread figure 8 in front and back of the ball, and they go around the base of the ball, parachute-style with the thread. Apply a tiny bit of dubbing to the tying thread to be used for the thorax.

Wind the hackle parachute style two turns. Finish the fly with a couple of wraps of dubbing on the thorax.

Top view of the Parachute Floating Nymph. Apply a dot of fly floatant and fish it right in the film.