Caddis Larva
Experimental Foam Brite Green Lara
This style Pattern represents many small caddis larva, and so can be tied in a variety of colors. The difference with this larva , is that even though small, it still looks fairly segmented. It's due to the material used for the body. Although, many people have used midge tubing in this manner, I have to give credit to the one who showed me, Randy Buchanan, besides being an excellent tier, he's terrific with teaching the kids at the shows. Here in the east I like this Larva tied in yellow, size 20-24, which imitates the small black caddis; Chimarra
Here again is another fairly generic pattern. Although Henry and I use this for imitating the caddis known as Little Sister Sedge, we believe it imitates several species throughout the Eastern U.S.
This is again a simple larva pattern, but this one because, of the material used to tie the body, light passes through the body, and the hook, or thread, shows up, looking like the inner workings of the larva. Unfortunately, the pictures don't really show it!
This is a fine early season pattern, as well as a great searching pattern, wherever cased caddis exist. The pattern originated from Gary LaFontaine's. It amazes me how few people carry this pattern, and use it. In the right situation, it can produce, when nothing else will. For me it's when Glossosoma (tan short horned sedge) is getting restless, here in the east in late May / Early June
This larva is a fast water dweller. It can be a killer at times, especially, from late April and on into June when these Caddis are active. Yes, we would ALL probably prefer to fish dries.- But - bouncing the bottom with one of these will get the attention of some pretty large fish. Works real well where rapids or very fast riffles, or waterfalls come into a deep pool. Cast into fast water with enough weight to bounce bottom by the time it's into the head of the pool, and then - HOLD ON!
This is simple pattern for when these Cased Caddis Larva are floating in the drift, usually very early morning, or at Dusk. This particular pattern works well if you whiten your tippet aprox.18 inches, starting from your fly. The reason for this is, this larva uses an anchor line, which is white, and it seems to be a keying factor for the trout.
A simple Caddis Larva pattern that's fairly quick to tie, and very effective for imitating a number of Caddis Species, including the fast water Rhyacophila.
Another style of the Cased Grannom, a bit more durable encased in Softex. Multi colored sand grains can be added to imitate other species of cased caddis.
A plain Jane caddis larva that again imitates several cream colored caddis larva that float in the drift from time to time.