While living in Pennsylvania after I’d begun fly fishing, my Dad and I rented a cabin along the Beaverkill River in the Catskills of New York. I had just purchased Gary LaFontaine’s book Caddisflies and took it along on the trip. During one of our daily trips we accessed the upper Beaverkill above the junction pool and discovered the stocking truck.
| Component | Material |
|---|---|
| Hook | Tiemco 2457, Size 16 |
| Bead | Gold to fit hook size |
| Pupa sheath | Dark olive sparkle yarn |
| Abdomen | 2 parts bright green yarn and 1 part dark olive sparkle yarn |
| Wing | Brown deer hair |
| Head/Thorax | Red brown dubbing |
Bright Green Caddis Pupa Top View
After the truck departed we could see dense numbers of fish in the stream and after an hour or so of fishing, I began to see caddis emerging from the river. I tied on one of the bright green caddis pupa that I’d tied based on LaFontaine’s book and began to catch fish in rapid fire succession. This is quite a while ago, but I recall having at least two doubles where I had two fish at once.
From the Side
After this experience I began to attach a bright green caddis pupa to my line every time I noticed fish feeding on caddis. It took me awhile to realize that not all caddis have bright green bodies, but more times that not the strategy worked. I continued using the bright green caddis in Colorado and added a gold bead to enable fishing as a dropper from a large attractor. The bright green caddis pupa has been and continues to be one of my top producers in Colorado. In order to begin 2012 with 25 in inventory, I tied 13 new ones and stocked them in my fly box.