Featured Fly - Flash Wing Caddis

Here is a fly that I found somewhere online, deep into my caddis fly pattern search. It was originally tied as an attractor fly for Grayling, but I thought it would be a great caddis fly. I immediately thought early season caddis fly for the Tully. Or better yet, once they have seen it all, throw this at them. It's a very simple and fast tie, so there is no reason to not have a few in your box this season.

Materials:

Hook: TMC 2488 sz. 14-20

Thread: UNI Thread 8/0 - Tan or Brown 

Body: TCO East Coast Dubbing - Yellow/Tan Caddis 

Underwing: Midge Flash - Pearl 

Wing: CDC - Natural, in a dubbing loop 

Step 1: Make a thread base, about a quarter of the way down the hook bend.

Step 2: Dub the body, remember caddis are a messy bug, so don't be afraid to make it very buggy.

Step 3: Leaving about two hook eye spaces material free, tie in around 5 strands of midge flash.

Step 4: Trim and stack one cdc feather (for sz. 16). Make a thread loop, then lay cdc fibers in the loop.  Spin the cdc and then pick out with a brush.

Step 5: Wrap the cdc loop around the hook, packing the fibers very close.

Step 6: Whip finish and cut thread off.

Step 7:  Now trim the bottom flat, this will add the two tone look to the fly. With more cdc fibers, this will also help grab the powder and in turn keep it floating longer and higher.

Finished Fly:

Tully Report

Its been a good week on the Tully. Sulphurs, Cahills, BWOs, Caddis both Green and Tan. Finding a spot some days is harder than others, but no matter where you end up , there will be fish will to eat. Water is now at a perfect level for dry flies, if they aren't coming up quite the way you like, they will always eat under an indicator. Here are a few pictures from the river the past week, and a sneak peak at the next featured fly, a must have on any stream that has sulphurs coming off.

 

Heat Warning - Tulpehocken Creek Report

This week started off a little slow for me. The fishing never really turned on, this could be due to a couple things. One in particular, water temps hit 71 degrees coming out of the dam, with reports of temps reaching 73 in the lower sections of the river. When the water temps are over 68 degrees PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, be mindful of how long you fight your fish, the time of day you fish, and if you can, switch gears to Smallmouth or your favorite cold mountain stream.

When trout exert energy aka fight back when you hook them, they build up lactic acids in their muscles. If they cannot cool down after the fight due to high water temps, they will basically cook from the inside out and go belly up. Trout however can withstand relatively hot water temps, Rainbows into the mid 70s without being stressed and Browns in the lower 70s without being stressed. I believe that trout can even withstand some upper 70s temps if it does not stay that hot for an extended period of time.

I know most of you have heard all this before, but we are trying to keep a fish kill if any very low. Being aware of the temps, and conditions on your local streams can help save the fish. Thank You

Now onto a nicer subject... The Report.

The water temps have come down a bit with this last front, and the fish have been up on caddis the last 2 days. Reports earlier this week said Trico fishing was slow, thinking it was from this hot muddy water. Either way look for them to become more active the next couple days, looks like day temps will not be getting over 85, with low 70s in the extended forecast.

Here are a few pictures from a float we did just before the water dropped to 150cfs.

And a couple from last 2 trips. The water came down to about 67 degrees yesterday morning, so we continued as planned. Fishing was pretty good, the picture taking not so much. Tan and Green Caddis littered the water for about 3 hours, right before the rain it kinda slowed so we messed around with a couple nymphs an picked a couple nice rainbows up.

Last week I found this web full of Tricos

Hot Flies: CDC Caddis, Pheasant Tails, Drowned Trico, Woolly Bugger, Caddis Larva, CDC Sulphur

Caddis and Streamers

I have to bite my tongue the next time I tell someone streamers don't work that well in the spring. The past couple days, due to dumb luck, I've been throwing streamers every night. White woollybuggers and brown slumpbusters, size 8 and 10, maybe olive now and again. But hey if thats not your thing, its all good, caddis have been coming off in clouds. Sulphurs have started in small numbers, if you see a couple floating down, tie one on and see what happens.

Joey's awesome rainbow, fooled by a cdc caddis

Nice brown with a slumpbuster hanging 

Hey even Carp like the slumpbuster 

Summer Caddis

Joe and I hit the Tully after work tonight. When we arrived at the waterworks we were greeted by fish heads everywhere; caddis where flying all over. This time of year the Tully fish become very fast and selective.



We both had a humbling night. We did however manage to land a few nice fish. A couple around 15"



Hot patterns: CDC caddis Tan sz. 18-20 CDC pop emerger green sz. 18-20




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Bugs Flying 06/01/2011

The Tully has come down to a nice level, and the clarity is about perfect. Joe, Lenny and I decided to hit the water this evening after work. Arriving at the river around 7:15 we were pleased to see lots of Caddis and Midges. After we each missed a few fish, Joe landed the first fish of the night, a nice brown.

As the evening went on the fish started to come up much more consistently. Joe and I each landed 4 or 5, with the last fish being landed right at 9. Joe has all the pictures, so as soon as he sends them my way I will put them up.

The hot fly for the evening was Green CDC Caddis: size 18

With the water level at 208 cfs and the water temp in the mid 60s, look for great surface activity with lots of bugs hatching and fish feeding regularly.

Sulphurs have also been very good below Reber's Bridge and around the Paper Mill.

The Tully by Boat

Joe and I have have been down the Tully 3 times now. For one of the floats I had Dillon come up from Maryland. We floated at 800cfs; it was not very productive, though we did land one fish that night on a pheasant tail nymph. We got out early and had lots of time to float, stopping and dropping the anchor a few times. It was a very nice evening with a bit of rain showers early on. The fog rolled in making for a few great photos.

Two nights ago Joe and I decided that after a long day of working in the shop we would do a shorter float. We put in at Rebers bridge and didn't make it more than a 100 yards before we found a pod of fish feeding on Caddis and Sulphurs as they hatched and hit the water. As we continued down towards the Refrigerator hole, we saw a few fish rising; Joe made a few casts as we floated by and stuck one more nice brown. Arriving at the Paper Mill flats just before dark we saw fish rising but had a tough time seeing once we got over top of them. I hit one more before we headed to the take out. All in all an excellent evening!

Hot flies for the evening : CDC Caddis Green & Biot Body Parachute Sulphur Yellow

Other great patterns to use this time of year are : CDC Sulphur Yellow, CDC Hackle Sulphur, CDC Caddis Tan, and Elk Hair Caddis Tan or Green 

This time of year when fish are not rising well I will stick with an indicator rig, using anything caddis or sulphur. Life-like caddis larva, Z-Wing caddis, Pheasant tail nymph, or TCO Sulphur nymph.