Elk Hair Caddis

The Elk Hair Caddis is an easy to tie and effective dry fly. The Caddis emerges from a larva and floats to the surface. These flies, called Sedges or Caddis flies, then attempt to take wing, often skittering across the water surface before breaking free. These flies can be fished on a drift or skated by lifting your rod tip and slowly dragging them across the surface to imitate the fly trying to take to the air. Trout are watching for emerging Caddis flies and will often hit the skating flies.

Two new techniques are introduced with this fly, dubbing and hair stacking.

Materials

• Hook - 14-16 dry fly
• Dubbing - tan squirrel blend or any to your preference
• Elk or deer body hair

1. As always prepare the hook by winding the thread back to the location above the hook point.

2. Using some dubbing wax rub a bit onto a section of the thread. This makes the thread a little sticky and makes applying dubbing easier.

3. Take a small amount of dubbing (small is good, it's easier to add than remove dubbing), pinch and spin the dubbing to form a thin noodle of dubbing on the thread.

4. Wind this dubbed thread around the hook shank to form a body. Note the space between the hook eye and the end of the body. Don't crowd the hook eye.

5. OK, we'll now need some Elk hair with the tip made even. I'll use this device called a hair stacker, you can get one at your fly shop for about 5 bucks.

6. Snip a small amount of hair from the patch it came on and put it tips first into the stacker.

7. Tap the stacker a bunch of times on the table top.

8. Turn the stacker sideways and carefully slide the inside collar out. Notice the tips are all even?

9. In your right hand measure the hair to just beyond the hook bend. Switch hands, pinching the hair between your left thumb and index finger.

10. Tie down the hair with snug wraps but not too tight as this will cause the hair to flair out, we don't want this.

11. On an angle backwards, snip the hair off. The idea is to leave a small stump of hair that represents the Caddis fly head.

12. Whip finish and trim off the thread.

13. The Elk Hair Caddis