EH Caddis Alternates

[Hewie]

I was checking my fly boxes last night for this weekends trip to a Sierra size-12-anything stream, when I realized I was essentially out of a goto pattern: EH Caddis. So I sat down and started tying. The first few, I tied the hackle in the front, palmered back, bound down and spiraled forward light gold wire. Not making progress as quickly as I'd have liked, I changed to the tie in tip first at back of fly and palmer forward method. As the night went on, I ditched the hackle altogether recalling this article:
http://www.cffu.org/FOMElkHairCaddis.pdf

So my question is, what's the best way to hackle EH Caddis's (or is that Caddi?). And if I just went to a no-hackle or x-caddis would I ever miss the hackle?

2 background notes: I'm essentially a beginning tier so adhere to KISS. Typical fishing spots are the Lower and Upper American, and the Truckee area.

Thanks,
Dave

[Darian]

I agree with Carl on his recommedation. In answer to the question as to hackling dry caddis patterns, there's a good book out by Craig Matthews titled, "Wetsren Fly Fishing Strategies." This book includes a bunch of caddis patterns in it, including the X Caddis. Matthews, also, puts out a DVD titled, "Fly Tying Yellowstone Hatches." This DVD contains a descrition of the materials he likes to tie with, pattern descriptions and local tyers tying the pattern. Very instructive.

Altho I still use the EH Caddis, I find myself going more and more to the no hackle, X Caddis and others like it. Simple to tie and very effective.

[Hewie]

To phrase my question in another way: the literature describes 2 ways of tying EH Caddis. The first is tying in mono or wire ribbing at the back, tying in the hackle at the front of the fly, palmering back, and then binding the hackle down with the ribbing. The second method does not use ribbing, tying the hackle at the back of the fly tip first and palmering forward. My question really is which way do you tie EHC and why. (Of interest to me was when I dug through some old boxes with flies from 3 different sources, I found some with wire ribbing, some with mono ribbing, and some with no ribbing at all.)
Makes me sense there are numerous "exact ways to tie it".

Thanks,
Dave

[Darian]

Dave,.... If there's one consistency in fly tying it's that there're a zillion ways to skin a cat. The first thing that happens to a new/succesfull pattern is that everyone will immediately try to improve it. Thus, there are many methods/materials used to tie an Elk Hair Caddis. The same is true for all flies.

I have a book case in my living room loaded with books ofly tying dating from my first acquisition in the mid-60's to the present. In them are descriptions of flies that have come and gone and returned in popularity. As well as standards that have had one piece of material added/changed or deleted while using the same or a different name.... This is true of all Caddis patterns as they tend to look alike.

Keeping this in mind, choosing whether to use a rib on an EH Caddis maybe nothing more than personal preference of the tyer or a desire to make a fly that can be fished wet or dry; a common choice for flies of the style of the EH Caddis.

[PatrickM]

Hey Wind Knot,
You might want to try tying up some of Ralph Cutter's E/C Caddis. I don't really fish the elk hair caddis any more because of this pattern. Orvis has a good tutorial for tying this fly:
http://www.orvis.com/detail.asp?subj..._id=&group_id=
Good luck.

[Hewie]

Yep, pm, I love E/C Caddis as well. And now that I've fished the no-hackle caddis a few times, I'll keep tying the good old fashioned EH Caddis; nothing else skates quite like it.
Dave

[Adam Grace]

The E/C caddis is a great fly. It is my go to fly when I can't figure out what the trout are taking on or in the surface.

It is a definate MUST HAVE in any fly box!