As of now we are experiencing some wicked cold windy days, on the other side of the coin we have seen some great shad kill, some trophy fish come to the net and at the end of the day despite the cold conditions trout fishing at its best.
On the other hand we look forward to the warmer days of Spring and the expectations of the first emergences of bugs, which provided we do not see a high water situation will be caddis, or sedge as we would call them in the UK.
 
Above all the emergence of the caddis gives us more options to fish than other species.
We can fish imitations of the caddis lava, both the cased caddis and free swimming species. Both are present here in the White river system, all be it the larva of the Ryacophilia, also called the green rockworm is a good bet at times.
Then we have the transitional stages of both species known as the pupa, vulnerable to the trout when they swim to the surface to emerge as the winged adults, after this we see the return of the ovipositing females and spent adults.
In the case of the pupa we can go a number of ways to fish that hatch. Winged wet flies and soft hackles can be killer tactics at times, and so also fishing imitations of the emerging caddis pupa, which often as not would be my choice, out side of trophy one fly zones often as not l will fish the pupa either as a pair of in conjunction with wet and soft hackles, this very much depends on how the fish are taking the naturals.
Are they intercepting pupa as they swim to the surface, or taking them in the surface film as they emerge, for sure one of these options will be the most productive before the actual emergence and during it.
The other option is to fish a dry caddis, and that is no doubt a great way to catch trout.
 
The caddis fly has always held a special place for me in the fly fishing season for the main reason that no other water born organism promotes such a feeding frenzy as the caddis. It is also in most cases the largest hatch if the early season, and in some cases such as our rivers the largest species that we will see emerge.
Midge may well be by far numbers wise the overall largest, but then a midge hatch does not incite the fish in the same way as does the caddis.
Other reasons why l favor to fish the caddis hatch is often as not trophy Browns can be caught, as it is the time of the year that the Browns are back on patrol for food after the spawn and winter recess during the colder water temperatures, all be it a shad kill will motivate them to feed on this bounty.
 
Much of my fly fishing in the 60 to 80s took place on lakes and reservoirs which also see great caddis hatches, In fact some of the natural lakes in Ireland see species that are over 1 ins in length, Often as not this emergence takes place late evening and into dark. When you fish such a hatch you listen for the surge of a rising trout and cast toward the commotion, if you get it right you will be rewarded with a very solid pull as the trout takes your fly and feels the sting of the hook, which may well be a very large trout at times.
During a hatch of this species its kind of like fishing amongst a thousand large moths as the caddis emerge and flutter in the air around you.
Other than this for the smaller species, here again the emergence is more so related to evening and into the dark periods, and at times it is the pupa that draws the attention of the trout as they cruise around looking for the ascending pupa, and l might add not any fly will work, these fish can be choosy.
 
Way back l developed a trans emerging caddis pupa, a fly that had more, shall we say characteristics of what l believed a trout saw so far as the natural, which amounted to.
Overall body color, a transparent pupa case, legs and a semblance of emerging wing buds and antenna . At a later point in time l dispensed with the wing buds, as l could see no added benefit form them being there, all be it there is no reason why they cannot be added. There was at that time no other fly patterns out there that resembled my pupa.
Again at a later point in time l incorporated the SLF dubbing that l produced and renamed the fly the SLF Transparent Caddis Pupa.
The essence of this fly is it has to have a translucent body, and overall looks like the ascending pupa.
 
It is not a difficult fly to tie overall other than the split thread technique l use for forming the body, which is very different to the traditional manner of forming a dubbed fly body. By this means l create a fly body that shows bulk but also allows for the maximum of light to pass through the abdomen of the fly body.

Click here for instructions for tying the SLF Caddis Pupa.