Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Tying the Caribou Caddis

Here's my favorite standard caddis adult imitation. I use it anywhere I might have used an elk hair caddis in the past, and for me, it works very well under most conditions. An elk hair caddis is primarily for use in riffles and runs, and although it may work from time to time on flat water, it isn't the best choice. This pattern has worked well for me in every water type trout habituate, even lakes. The caribou hair wing provides an excellent profile, while also being supple and very buoyant. The only floatant you will need is Frog's Fanny after a fish or two, to dry it out.


RECIPE
Hook: #10 - 18 Std Dry Fly
Thread: 6/0 Olive Danville (use what you like)
Abdomen: Haretron - Here I use light olive brown.  I also tie them in olive/green, tan, cream and gray.
Underwing: Clear zelon
Wing: Natural caribou body hair
Thorax: Hare's ear - touch-dubbed

Tie some up and fish them with confidence.

And sharpen your hooks!   

3 comments:

TomK said...

Thanks for another great tutorial, Matt. I'm curious, you mentioned that you're there for the entire production and pleased with how Tim edits it to the final product. So, my question is, how much production time (not Tim's editing time) is necessary to film the process to get such a high-quality 5-7 minute end product? And does it take "several takes" at different stages in the tying? Best, Tom

Matt Grobert said...

Hi Tom, I literally tie 2, sometimes 3 flies, from start to finish. I don't stop at each step, I just tie each fly as I normally would and Tim tapes it. It doesn't take that long at all, maybe 45 minutes including short breaks between flies to get reset. That's why I am amazed at the end result; I tie a couple of flies, Tim videos it, and then puts together a great video.....Tim is that good at what he does. Keep tying, and I'll see you on the river or the fly shop.

Micah said...

Matt, this looks nice, I'll tie some up with deer hair while I wait for my Caribou Butt Fibers to show up with the Ups guy.