Deer Hair Caddis – 02/22/2021

Deer Hair Caddis 02/22/2021 Photo Album

Review my post of 02/16/2020 for links to more expansive descriptions of my history with a deer hair caddis as well as a materials table. This rather sparse fly is selected from my fly box fairly often during a season of fly fishing. The two colors that I favor the most are olive-brown and gray, although I also carry a few in tan and yellow. Sizes 14, 16, and 18 seem to fulfill most needs. When my larger and bushier flies such as the hippie stomper and stimulators elicit refusals, I often downsize to a deer hair caddis, and the fish seem to appreciate such a move. These earth colored imitations are challenging to track, but the trout seem to have no problem picking them out. During the 2020 season I increasingly deployed the strategy of a double dry fly with a larger more visible fly in the front position trailing a smaller deer hair caddis. It worked quite well, and I suspect it will be added to my bag of tricks in the upcoming season.

Underside

I counted all my deer hair caddis, and I was pleased to determine that I possessed adequate if not excessive quantities. I also went through my damaged and unraveling fly canister and extracted twelve flies in the 16 and 18 size range, and I stripped them back to bare hooks. With this recycled supply of dry fly hooks at my disposal, I manufactured five additional size 16 deer hair caddis with olive-brown bodies. Bring on the April caddis hatch. I am prepared.

Ice Dub Olive Bodies

3 thoughts on “Deer Hair Caddis – 02/22/2021”

  1. Richard Ziegner

    Dave – I struggle following my dry fly in most waters. My eyes just don’t work as well as they used to. I like the idea of using a larger, more visible fly as your lead and a smaller fly as the trailer. Question: When you use this dual dry-fly set-up, how much space do you put between the two fly’s? Regards, Richard

    1. wellerfish Post author

      Hi Richard – Thanks for following my blog. When I fish the dual dry fly set up, which I’m relatively new to this past summer, I usually only add six to eight inches to the bend of the forward fly. If you you separate too much, tracking once again becomes a problem. A few times I had a larger attractor as the front fly, a hippie stomper for example, and a deer hair caddis as the second fly. Unfortunately because the hippie stomper drifted over the fish first since I was casting upstream, I continued to get refusals, and the fish never saw the second fly. Most of the time, however, it worked quite well.

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