Classified Caddis

Caddis were once thought of as a secondary insect of lesser importance to trout than their cousins mayflies. The late Gary Lafontaine opened the world's eyes to their importance through many of his groundbreaking literary works and fly patterns. The Lafontaine Sparkle Pupa was and still is in my opinion a revolutionary caddis imitation that is a fish catching machine whenever you are encountered with a caddis emergence on the water. Heck, even when there isn’t an emergence these flies will fool a fish or two as well. As an homage of sorts to this wonderful pattern, and a little simpler recipe for the average tier, the Classified Caddis came to fruition. Like the infant stone, a couple changes in size and color will allow the tier to cover a rather large array of caddis encountered in a season.  The deep version with a brass or tungsten bead is a fantastic nymph version, but my favorite is the emergent bead-less variation that can be fished as a wet or dry fly in the film or on the surface. 

The emergent version is often overlooked by many as they opt to fish the deeper varieties leading up to a caddis emergence.  I caution the angler in making this choice as a well presented or even skittered bead-less variation will often get eaten when the trout get picky to any surface imitation, and they too can be sunk when coupled with split shot or another tungsten nymph.

Recipe:

Hook: #10-18 Tiemco 2499 SPBL, Partridge KFAY-SE Grub Straight Eye, 

Bead: size to match

Thread: 70 denier Ultra Thread or Veevus 8/0

Body: Dubbing brush with Ultra Wire and Yellowstone Fly Goods Scud Dub or Hareline Trilobal Dub

Wing: Ice Fur

Collar: Spiky Squirrel or Hareline Dubbin