I finished tying all the flies on the list I generated in November, so now the fun part has arrived. I decided to make some new flies I’d never tied before, and last night I browsed through my Charlie’s Fly Box book by Charlie Craven and selected two new patterns to tie; Craven’s soft hackle emerger and a mugly caddis.

The soft hackle emerger appeals to me as a potential alternative to the RS2 that I frequently fish when blue wing olives are in the air. The white tail and wing made from fluoro fiber looks like a true fish attractor.  On Tuesday I made the lunch time drive to Old Arvada and purchased 5 minute epoxy to appropriately finish the jujubaetis flies, bought white fluoro fiber for the soft hackle emerger, and finished my shopping with two tan colored snowshoe rabbit feet for the mugly caddis.

Craven Soft Hackle Emerger

On Wednesday and Thursday I sat down at my vice and produced ten soft hackle emergers. The first five were tied per the directions in the book, and I was quite pleased with the results even though I struggled to fold the hackles. I added five on Thursday night tied on a size 18 scud hook with a small silver bead. I’m anxious to try both types as replacements for the RS2.

Beadhead Soft Hackle Emerger

When I first moved to Colorado this fly was my dominant producer. I fished frequently in the South Platte River below Deckers, CO because of the proximity to my home and the great fishery that existed there prior to the Heyman Fire. Drifting a nymphing rig with a strike indicator, a split shot or two, a pink San Juan worm and a beadhead pheasant tail was money in the bank just about any time of year. However during the pale morning dun hatch time period of mid-June to mid-July, the pheasant tail nymph was unsurpassed.

Beadhead Pheasant Tail Nymph

I can remember days fishing with my friend Dave Gaboury where every upstream cast produced a hit on the beadhead pheasant tail before, during and after a PMD hatch. In one instance, a strong hatch commenced and when fish began to rise to the surface, I switched to a PMD dry fly while Dave G. continued with his nymph system. Dave G. totally outfished me with the nymphs compared to my dry fly.

Flashback Wing Case

Over time I’ve modifed the standard pheasant tail by adding a gold bead, tying on a curved scud hook, adding a strand of pearl flashabou to the wing case, and using peacock herl for the thorax instead of pheasant tail fibers. I needed 16 beadhead pheasant tails to replenish my inventory for 2012, and I can report that I am ready to go.

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.

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.

Many years ago I traveled to Pennsylvania and visited my family and while there made a trip to the Tulphehocken Creek in Berks County to fish for trout. I encountered a nice caddis hatch near Blue Marsh Dam, but I was unable to consistently hook and land fish despite fairly heavy surface feeding. On a subsequent trip I visited Tulpehocken Creek Outfitters in Reading, Pa., and a gentleman in the store sold me some small emerald and light yellow caddis pupa and adults. I experienced increased success on the Tulpehocken with these flies and subsequently tied some of my own.

Emerald Beadhead Caddis Pupa

Around eight years ago I returned to Pa. for a college reunion and arrived early to do some fishing in Penns Creek with my friend Jeff Shafer. On an overcast Saturday morning Jeff introduced me to some new water near Coburn. We were having only a small amount of luck when I noticed some caddis dancing on the water. I managed to catch one and inspected its body and discovered a dark gray color with a hint of emerald at the tip of the abdomen. I decided to tie an emerald green caddis pupa to my line and managed to catch several nice fish after this change.

Tilted View

Based on this success in Pennsylvania, I began to experiment with the emerald caddis on Colorado Rivers, and I’ve discovered that the fish in the west like them just as much as the eastern fish. I planned to have 25 emerald caddis entering the 2012 season so I tied 13 fresh versions to rebuild my inventory.