Flies

GODDARD  CADDIS

Origin

The Goddard caddis was introduced by English angler John Goddard in the “The Trout and the Fly”, co-authored with John Clarke.  It is considered to be one of the best caddis dry fly patterns for versatility and durability.  It was developed as a stillwater pattern, but floats so well and low in the water that it makes an excellent fast water pattern as well. It will work real well in our Western US rivers because of the abundance of caddis.

Pattern

    • Hook     dry fly,  sizes 10 thru 16
    • Thread   gray or black
    • Tail        none
    • Body      natural deer hair – spun and trimmed
    • Antennae     two stems of a brown hackle
    • Hackle    brown hackle feather

Tying Instructions:

  • Wrap on a thread base and cement to the hook
  • Apply multiple clumps of deer hair starting at the bend of the hook and stop at about the 1/3 point of the hook
  • Trim the deer hair in the shape of a cone – larger at the tail and smaller toward the head
  • Cut off the barbules from two brown hackle feathers to use as the antennae
  • Tie on the two antennae near the eye of the hook in a “V” and make them very long
  • Tie on the brown hackle feather and make four or five wraps around the hook shank
  • Wrap the thread to form a head and whip finish
  • Cement the thread and get it wet at the nearest stream

Flies  Imitated:  All medium size brown caddis

How to fish: Dead drift as you would any dry fly in the seam line and around exposed rocks.  This fly will continue to float very well even in rough water.

Gary Kutz, Golden State Flycasters, April 2006