By Thomas Ames
Jr.
"Spring
Caddis"
Caddis start appearing on the
Housatonic with the Hendrickson hatch. As the mayflies
begin to wane the caddis assert their dominance as a food
source for the riverâs fish. Housatonic caddis span
a wide range, from the tiny micro-caddis to the large
zebra caddis (aka "alder") of midsummer. Among the first
to watch for are the netbuilding caddises
(Ceratopsyche and Hydropsyche), the grannom
(Brachycentrus) and the little short horned sedge
(Glossosoma).
Of these, the netbuilders are by
far the most common. In fact, these two genera of the
same family are the most abundant and widespread of all
caddises, with a season stretching from the middle of
spring through the dog days of summer. Imitations of
their dark olive to bright green larvae are attractive to
fish feeding on the bottom all year long. They are slow
emergers, often drifting great distances between the time
they leave their pupal cases the moment they take wing.
The hatches are so spread out that fish will take a pupal
pattern any time they are on the feed. Life can be good
for anglers presenting pupal patterns by drifting them
along the bottom, swinging them up to the surface or
hanging them in the surface film.
The many adult species have
bodies ranging from tan to cinnamon with many shades of
brownish gray in between. Wings range from light tan to
reddish brown (Ceratopsyche) and brown with gray
spots to gray with brown spots (Hydropsyche) They
are equal opportunity egglayers, with some species that
flutter on the surface and others that dive or swim
below, providing chances for both wet fly and dry fly
devotees.
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The
Mother's Day Caddis |
Last year I spent an evening
fishing with Harold just downstream of the "Fly Fishing
Only" sign. In spite of the on-and-off rain fish were
rising steadily, with a generous menu of hatching duns
and egg-laying caddis to choose from. We were both
fishing a size 12 rusty usual, but for some reason his
was working and mine wasnât (Iâm sure he can
come up with some logical, if fanciful, explanation).
When I switched to a size 14 cinnamon elk hair caddis my
fortunes improved. The modest sized fish a few feet in
front of me came to it easily enough, but a much better
one was rising at the far end of my limited casting range
in a slick behind a rock, a difficult presentation at any
distance. Somehow I managed to maintain some accuracy,
and after a number of casts I landed the fly with enough
slack to hold it in the pocket. The fish rose, turned and
took it going downstream. By the time he was reported on
the web site the following day, he had grown to 17
inches.
When I climbed out of the water
at the end of the eveningâs fishing I looked down at
my sand colored waders and discovered that they were
peppered with slimy green dots. While I was standing in
the river the grannoms had pasted their eggs to my waders
and to every rock and submerged limb they had
encountered. There must have been an astonishing number
of them diving, crawling and swimming in the water for
such a thing to occur, certainly many more than I had
seen flying in the air. For every fish that we had seen
rising, there must have been ten or twenty gorging itself
on submerged, adult caddis. But I had been so busy
working to fish eating the cinnamon caddis off the
surface that Iâd overlooked the opportunities taking
place below it.
There are several important
species of grannom, including the gray-winged" olive dun"
and the smaller, nearly black-winged "Motherâs Day"
caddis. Like the netbuilders, they are slow emergers.
Fish will take the pupae on the bottom, below the surface
and during their ascent though the water column.
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A
Short Horned Sedge from the Corner
Pool |
The last of the three, Glossosoma, may or may not be an important hatch
on the Housatonic, but I have certainly seen them there.
They are worth mentioning because their behavior is so
different. Most early caddis, including the two mentioned
above, emerge in the surface film, but Glossosoma pupae rise to the surface and then run or swim across it
to emerge in relative safety on the streamside rocks,
where I find them drying themselves before flying off in
search of shelter and a mate. Without magnification they
don't look much difference from the grannoms, but their
presence on the rocks is the giveaway. If the fish
arenât rising to your dead drifted pupa, try
dragging one across the feeding lane. Foam bodied
emergers or other patterns with stiff hackles are well
suited to this technique.
You may have noticed that the Chimarra caddis that appears on so many hatch
charts is not on my short list of spring caddises. It is
often confused with smaller species of Brachycentrus and is otherwise, in my estimation,
overrated in importance. Some charts for the river also
list the Dark Blue Sedge (Psilotreta), a major
hatch on some rivers, but I haven't seen any evidence of
it on the Housatonic except in a couple of the cooler
tributatries.
Thomas Ames Jr. is a commercial
photographer and author of Hatch Guide to New England
Streams. He lives in Norwich Vermont and makes
frequent visits to the Housatonic. Signed copies of his
book are available in the fly shop.
For more information and
photographs of fly fishing insects visit www.thomasames.com/insects.
E-mail your comments to Thomas.Ames@valley.net
