Nymph
Dry Fly
Elk Hair Caddis
Al Troth’s caddis dry — floats in water that drowns everything else.
$18.99
$1.58 per fly
Available at Amazon
- Hook size
- 18
- Imitates
- Caddis
- Best water
- Freestone River, Spring Creek, Tailwater
- Colour
- Natural
- Pack
- 12 flies
How to fish it
Fishing notes
Fish it dead drift first. If that draws refusals, put a small twitch in at the end of the drift, or swing it up on the dangle to imitate an adult struggling to the surface. Riffles and the fast water at the head of pools.
About this fly
Al Troth’s caddis dry — floats in water that drowns everything else.
The Elk Hair Caddis has survived fifty years of fly design because the elk hair wing is genuinely buoyant and the palmered hackle lets it ride through broken water without swamping. It is the dry fly for riffles, and caddis are the insect trout see most on most rivers.
Size 18 covers the majority of summer caddis activity. Unlike a mayfly dry it can be skated and twitched, which is often what turns a follow into a take.
Key features
- Elk hair wing floats through riffles and pocket water that sink other dries
- Palmered hackle keeps it up and suggests the fluttering natural
- Size 18 matches most summer caddis hatches
- Can be twitched or skated — movement often triggers the eat
- Al Troth’s design; the standard against which caddis dries are measured
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