Tying the Egg-laying Grannom

The Light and Dark Grannoms that have been hatching the last couple of weeks are beginning to return to our rivers and streams in the evening to lay their eggs.  When they do, the trout will key in on the egg laden females with their bright green egg sacs, and feed with abandon.  The interesting thing about this caddis is that some will congregate on a partially submerged rock or log and crawl down below the water surface and place the sticky green sac on the side of the object, and others will drag their egg sac along the water surface so the surface tension pulls the egg sac off and into the drift to sink to the bottom.  Some trout will hang behind the rocks or logs and feed on caddis that become dislodged, and others will feed on those caddis that are drifting and skittering along the surface.  You will witness both egg-laying behaviors in a single pool.

What makes this pattern so versatile is that it can be fished to imitate both of the egg-laying behaviors described above. It can be fished dry, both dead-drift and with some drag, to imitate that behavior.  And it can be fished wet, with a small shot about 6-inches ahead of the fly on the leader -cast it above the log or rock where the caddis are massing and let it swing around the object into the current below where the trout will bang it as it drifts by. I've worked the length of a pool using one fly the entire evening, switching from fishing this pattern dry or wet as I go, taking fish throughout the run.

Recipe

Hook: Standard Dry #14-18

Thread: 6/0 Olive Danville

Egg-sac: Caddis green zelon

Abdomen: Natural gray Australian opossum

Underwing: White zelon

Wing: Snowshoe rabbit foot hair

Thorax: Natural hare's ear - touch-dubbed

Sharpen your hooks.