Spent Caddis

The Spent Caddis is a quick and easy pattern to tie. The "spent" phase is the last life phase of the bug, and it is vulnerable as it floats on the water surface, making it easy picking for the trout.

Use a dry fly hook in various sizes to match the size of the bugs typically in your area. Start the thread behind the hook eye and lay a coat of thread back to the hook bend. In this video, I'm tying on a size 18 hook and using a Semperfly Nanosilk 18/0 in beige.

Dub a whisp of Superfine dubbing on the thread. I'm using tan here, but use the color that most likely matches your hatch. When dubbing a Caddis, it should be reverse tapered, so the thickest dubbing is at the hook bend - getting thinner moving towards the hook eye. About two eye lengths behind the eye, tie in a bunch of fibers from a Hungarian Partridge feather on the top center of the hook to create the wing. Being a "spent" fly, you want it to look flimsy. I've also seen people use Mallard flank feather fibers for the wing. After securing the wing to the top of the fly, remove the butt ends.

The fly is lightly hackled. Tie in a piece of Furnace hackle right at the base of the wing and advance the thread just about to the hook eye. Take three to four touching wraps of the hackle, secure it, and carefully remove the remaining hackle. From here, whip finish the fly, and you're done!