Mercer's Missing Link

Great caddis pattern for late fall

Hook: dry fly
Thread: olive 70 denier
Body: olive thread
Rib: pearl flashabou

Thorax: ball of Peacock Ice Dub
Legs: tan Z-lon
Wing: coastal deer hair
Hackle: natural dun, parachute

West Branch Report

With last night's rain, the water levels were up a bit (~450 cfs at Walton) and the water was a bit more cloudy than its been for a few days. According to the pros, the higher water and cooler temps should be good for fishing so here's hoping. While out on the West Branch near Hamden I did see some decent bug activity, though the surface feeding was sporadic for most of the evening.

Best guest at what I was seeing is that we had Hendricksons, Blue Quills (dark bodied, dark winged mayflies), and the occasional bright green apple caddis. I fished a few different patterns throughout the evening, starting with a basic March Brown wet fly, and then progressing to a Hendrickson parachute, a blue quill, a BWO with CDC wings, and a rusty spinner. Dark flies definitely seemed to be the most effective tonight. I had trouble seeing the small #18 blue quill though I think it was probably the best choice based on color and size of the naturals. I tied on the #14 BWO since it was a little bigger and floated a lot better making it far easier to spot. It caught a beautiful 16" brown that casually slurped it from the foam. I admit, I knew he was there, but I thought he was a much smaller fish when I casted to him.

West Branch Report

Thanks to the men and women of our Armed Forces who fought and died for us, I was priveledged to be able to go fishing with my buddy on Memorial Day. I think war is a terrible option to have to take, and I hope we never have another, but I have nothing but respect for all those who have gone to battle to defend our freedom throughout history.

Back home in central New York, Memorial Day was beautiful, sunny and warm. The Upper West Branch near Hamden was running a bit high (USGS says 650 CFS at Walton and it seems best at 300-400), but it's starting to clear up and should be perfect in a day or two if the thunderstorms don't muck it up again.

I hit the water a little after 5PM and the insect activity was moderate. I noticed quite a few small caddisflies dipping and diving to deposit their eggs (dark dun Chimarras) and there were Hendricksons out and about. A few fish were feeding at the surface in select spots, but I had to cover a lot of river to find them.

On the evening, a Biot Parachute Hendrickson pattern in size 12 seemed to draw the most interest.  I landed a nice 15" brown, an 8" chub, and had a few takes that I wasn't quick enough to connect with on that fly. I also had a strong take on a CDC & Elk caddis pattern. I was swinging it as a wet fly when the strike occurred, but my tippet gave way. It didn't raise any fish as a dry, which led to the switch to the Hendrickson Pattern.

As night fell, there were a few vicious outbursts where browns jumped clear out of the water after a meal. My guess is that they were hitting caddisflies based on the violence of the takes, so I switched again to a CDC Biot Caddis Emerger. It did draw a strike, but I lost the fly and the fish when I set the hook - something I clearly need to work on.

West Branch Report

I spent a couple of hours on the waters between Walton and Delhi tonight and while there were definitely bugs out and about, there wasn't nearly the surface activity I expected. I netted a few Red Quill (male hendrickson) spinners and saw quite a lot of small dark dun caddis (Chimarra, I believe) and slightly larger greed caddis (apple?) out and about, but the fish seemed to be feeding elsewhere. Perhaps I arrived too late for the main feast. Even so, I did manage to hook up with a few small browns. I'm guessing the stocking truck came through recently because the fish I caught were in the 6-8" range and were pretty pale.

Once again, the dark dun CDC emerger was a killer, as was the Madison Guide Cripple in red quill coloring. While the CDC Emerger is deadly, it's tough to fish in that it's hard to see and a little fish slime pretty much trashes it. I fish it mostly as a dropper off of a larger, more visible fly (a Hendrickson or klinkhamer for example) unless the water is fairly calm. Last night it was my go-to for sight-casting to a rising trout. I stuck with the MGC for prospecting in the faster water since the parachute made it easier to track and it's far more durable.

West Branch Report - Get your dries!

My first fish on a dry of the season _and_ my first fish on a fly that I tied EVER _AND_ it's my largest trout to date (at just shy of 20")! I am disgustingly proud of myself.

Last night was a beautiful night for fishing with temps in the 60s and no breeze to speak of when I arrived near Hamden at 5:15PM. There was a lot of insect activity with Hendricksons mating in the air, blue quills drifting past, and clouds of small, dark dun caddis flies everywhere. I also noticed nymph shucks floating past in the water. The surface activity wasn't phenomenal, despite the bugs, but there were fish rising. Based on the slow rises and what I was seeing in the water, fish seemed to be slurping up spent caddis flies (dark dun, size 18 or so). The Hendricksons weren't yet depositing eggs and there wasn't a spinner fall so perhaps tonight will show some more action on that front.

The above fish was caught on a dark dun CDC emerger pattern, size 16 with a stripped peacock herl body. I'll tie a few more up and post a pattern soon. It's an easy fly to tie, though the CDC requires a lot of maintenance to keep it floating (many thanks to Hareline's Amadou fly dryer!) and it was pretty much toast after the tussle with the fish pictured above. I tried a few other flies including a more traditional Hendrickson pattern, a blue quill, and even a pheasant tail nymph over a few risers but they weren't interested. A dark Madison Guide Cripple (brown with grizzly hackle, size #14 or 16) drew a savage take from a nice looking fish who managed to get away. It popped my tippet during a brief lapse in concentration as I tried to get into a better position to land it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a spare in dark coloring and the remaining rising fish had no interest in the cream colored variation I showed them next.

All in all, an excellent evening spent on the water and with the warm temperatures continuing, I expect things will only pick up from here.

CDC Biot Caddis Emerger

Hook: Dry 12-16

Thread: brown or black

Shuck: silvery Zelon or poly yarn 

Abdomen: tan or olive goose or turkey biot (goose pref)

Thorax: small ball of olive dubbin under wings

Under-wing: silvery Zelon or poly yarn

Wing: pair of natural CDC feathers. Bend down butts to create beard/legs before trimming

Antennae: 2 duck flank fibers

Head: 1 peacock herl

Check out Hans Weilenmann's video for how to do it right:

CDC & Elk

This is a very simple fly created by Hans Weilenmann in the 1990s.  The CDC & Elk is a variation on the Elk-hair Caddis that is both easy to tie and versatile.  Using only two materials, you can churn out a few of these in relatively short order. 

Pattern:

Hook: Dry Fly (12 or 14)
Thread: Brown
Body: Dark Dun CDC
Wing: Elk Hair (Deer hair subbed above)

Instructions:

1. Starting your thread a little behind the hook eye, wrap back to the barb and trim your tag end.
2. Holding your CDC feather in your left hand, stroke the fibers forward with your right-hand and tie in the first 1/4-1/2" of the tip per Hans' technique: two pinch wraps on top, one wrap in front around shank only, then another wrap on top.
3. Advance thread forward to an eye space or two from the eye.
4. Using a hackle pliers, wrap the CDC forward to your thread.  The rear end of the fly will be nicely dubbed as the CDC fibers are all trapped.  As you advance, more and more fiber ends will be freed up and create a leggy/buggy look.  Be sure to stroke these fibers rearward as you wind.
5. Tie off CDC behind eye and trim.
6. Select a small clump of hair (I like to hold mine to the hook shank before cutting to help gauge size), remove fuzzy under-fur and use a stacker to line up the ends.
7. Size the wing such that the deer hair ends even with the bend of the hook.
8. Per Hans, pinch the butts at the hook eye and trim the hair square at the hook eye.
9. Maintaining your pinch grip, tie in the hair with two pinch wraps and tighten down forming your nicely balled head.  A third wrap should go at 45 degrees through the head ball and a final wrap around the hook shank only, under the head and behind the eye.
10. Whip finish and cement.  (This is a great pattern to practice whip finishing by hand.  The control you get by hand allows you to get the whip finish under the head much more easily than you would with a tool.)

And since my summary could never equal learning from the creator himself: 

Fishing the CDC & Elk:
As an elk-hair caddis variation, this fly is ostensibly a dry caddis imitation.  However, per Hans, it's useful for prospecting, can be successful as a mayfly imitation, makes a decent emerger when a bit damp, and can be swung as a wet fly as well.  I'm looking forward to trying the CDC & Elk this season.  A quick and easy tie that covers several different scenarios?  How can you go wrong?

For more on CDC patterns: Tying with CDC