Green Caddis Larva Fly Pattern | Fly Tying Tutorial

Today we're diving into the world of fly tying with a close look at the Green Caddis Larva Fly, a nymph that's a proven fish catcher. Crafted using simple yet effective materials like Dave Whitlock's SLF dubbing and a Core 1120 Nymph and Scud hook, this fly is ideal for beginners due to its straightforward assembly and versatility in matching local aquatic life. Whether you're fishing in olive, brown, or rust, the Green Caddis Larva is essential for your fly box, especially in sizes 14 to 16. Drop a comment to share your experiences or tips with this fly, and don't forget to subscribe for more insightful fly tying tutorials!
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Chapters
0:00 - Intro
0:23 - Hook & Lead Wire
1:14 - Thread
1:39 - Wire
2:05 - Olive Dubbing
2:53 - Wire Wrap
3:13 - Brown Dubbing
3:59 - Head Cement
4:14 - Brushing
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[@dgracia18]

Nice tie as usual Karl. That fly is a "guide's delight" because it's quick and easy to tie and it catches fish! An identifying characteristic about caddis pupa is what appears as a bag of bubbles surrounding their body. As the larva pupates, it builds up some gas within its exoskeleton. When it finishes pupating, it is basically the adult with legs and antenna sticking out of this gas-filled bag. Underwater it looks like a bug with a bunch of bubbles around it. Gary LaFontaine in his book, "Caddisflies", published in 1981, was the first one to identify and publicize this. He accurately imitate this he invented a fly called "The Deep Sparkle Pupa". He uses Antron yarn in this fly because Antron is a Tri-Lobal yarn and reflects a lot more light than standard wool yarn and being tri-lobal it reflects it from a lot of different points. It was actually developed by carpet companies that wanted their carpets to look cleaner and newer longer than wool carpets, which tended to "dull-up" quickly as they got dirty. Gary settled on Antron because it was easily available and gave that bag-of-bubbles look he was after. This fly in the fly-bins doesn't look much like a caddisfly pupa, but in the water it imitates the caddisfly pupa perfectly.
That bag of bubbles surrounding the natural as it initially swims/drifts along the bottom and then swims up towards the surface is a "trout-trigger". At this point the larva is for all intents and purposes an adult caddis in a bag of bubbles. This bag of bubbles expands as it gets closer to the surface because there is less water pressure compressing it. This increased buoyancy accelerates the speed of the pupa to the surface and when the caddis hits the surfaces, in all but a few cases, that gas bag pops open shooting the fully adult caddis into the air like a submarine missile launch. With a few exceptions, caddis pupa spend virtually no time in the surface film. You'll often see a little ring in the water below it when a caddisfly adult suddenly appears in the air. This is why trout race after them, often launching into the air trying to take them - they know that if the caddis makes it to the surface, they've escaped.
When LaFontaine published this book, I immediately tied some of these Deep Sparkle Pupa up and suddenly I was catching a lot of fish on this fly. It easily doubled my success rate. It didn't look like caddis pupa in my hand, but if I dead-drifted it to start and then just stopped my rod, the line would become tight and swing the fly to the surface imitating the rapidly ascending pupa perfectly. Most of my fish were caught on that rise to the surface, which is especially fun because you feel them slam it! Unfortunately, although it was very effective, it wasn't the quickest tie in the world.
Since I knew that Antron yarn was the key to getting those reflections imitating the bubbles, I would either tie up some flies with Antron yarn or Antron dubbing and just pick it out, basically looking similar to the fly that Karl just tied. That worked well. Karl's tie is especially effective because of the "buggy" silhouette and the bits of flash that are in the fly to get those point-of-light reflections characteristic of bubbles. I like to tie in a 2 or 3 strands of Krystal Flash on each side of the hook, dub a body; pull the Krystal Flash up on each side tying it off in front of the body; then folding it back to lie alongside the body as legs or just extra points of light.
So if you are out fishing and fish are just jumping out of the water, odds are they are chasing caddis pupa, trying to eat them before they reach the surface and escape. Here's a trick that I got from Ralph Cutter (author of "Sierra Trout Guide") when we are at the San Mateo Sportsman's show many years ago. I ALWAYS carry some powder fly floatant in my vest. If you don't have a specific caddis pupa imitation, just get a nymph with a buggy silhouette or pick out the dubbing with a needle that you keep in your fly box to untie those pesky wind knots. Once it looks pretty shaggy, put the fly into the powder and shake it to cover it well. Put a split shot about 6" to 8" away or so from the fly and fish it. That desiccant powder not only captures air bubbles between the guard hairs or dubbing pieces sticking out of the body, but also keeps the fly floating 6 to 8" above the bottom before you start to swing it up. Works perfectly and can be used with just about any impressionistic nymph you have in your box.
So when you see a big fish making a really splashy rise. Stick one of Karl's flies on the end of your tippet, dip it in your desiccant powder floatant, and fish it dead drift until you get into the area of that fish. When you get it close to where the fish is, just stop your rod and let it swing your fly to the surface. If the fish takes it, you'll feel him slam it. There is nothing delicate about the take on a caddisfly pupa swinging up to the surface. You'll catch a lot of trout if the caddis are feeding on pupa, with this fly and method of presentation.

[@bobhammond8067]

Super! Another fish catcher!!!