Small version of Cz nymph using Kudra dubbing and rabbit thorax. Simple but effective.
http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/hwcdc/
I have seen this pattern tied several times at tying shows. It is the standard Elk Hair Caddis, but the CDC is tied in and wrapped forward instead of a dubbed body and palmered hackle. This causes the fly to float flush in the film and the wing still allows for visibility. The wrapped CDC causes tentacles of CDC fibers to undulate in the water suggesting life. A dab of floatant only to the wing or some false casting should keep the fly floating fine…but should it sink…that would be ok also. Impart some action to it as it is retrieved. Hans Weilenmann has written several times re this fly and the picture is from a recent article in Flyfiserman.
When I was first learning to flyfish, it was with the assistance of a neighbor boy…Lennie. He had been commissioned by a woman at a sporting goods store to tie one fly for commercial sale…the one fly was the orange bodied Tied Down Caddis. So, as I fished for rainbows and cutt throat trout, the only fly I had for years was the TDC. I new little about presentation or caddis or what trout ate. I did recall the slashing takes by trout of the one and only fly Lennie tied. He received 5 cents for each fly tied. That aside he pilfered off a few here and there and we had our ready arsenal for Summer.
As I have offered in previous posts, we move from the old standbys to the new and interesting patterns. We forget the old and abandon them. Try to find a TDC and you will not find one, excepting a steelhead version on the Welches, Oregon shop’s site and even then it has a buzz cut head…not how the original was tied. So, I have tried to recreate it here. I tied it a bit messy and the deer hair was too coarse and a bit twisted as I pulled it over but you get he idea of how it should look. I am going to tie more and make the fly a little sleaker. Still as it looks here it is quite close to Lennie’s original that he tied as a young teen.
