Hook Standard dry fly hook (Daiichi 1180), #14-18 (mostly fished in 16 and 18)
Thread Olive or tan to match the body 8/0
Materials
Antron / Zelon Amber (also tied fluorescent green) (One short length, serves as both trailing shuck and overwing)
Dry fly dubbing Olive or tan dubbing (A light, airy pinch)
Deer body hair, short and fine (whitetail) Natural deer hair (One clump with a distinct dark band)
Rubber legs, fine Natural or barred rubber legs fine (One pair (optional))
How to tie it
Mount the hook and start the thread about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way up the shank.
Tie in a length of amber Antron at that point and bind it back toward the bend, leaving the front end sticking out over the eye; trim the rear end into a very short shuck ending just past the bend. Pull it tight, relax it, then cut, so crinkly Zelon doesn't spring back short.
Spin a very light, airy pinch of dry fly dubbing on the thread. If a strand floats out from the thread rather than sagging, you have the right amount. And wrap a slim, tapered body forward, keeping it thin at the back and covering the shank; caddis have skinny bodies.
Carry the dubbing two or three turns past the front of the body, then fold the forward Antron back over the top as an overwing and tie it down, cutting it just shy of the end of the shuck.
Cover the thread wraps with a whisker of dubbing so the folded Antron has a bed to sit on.
Clean a clump of short fine deer hair by spinning it in your fingertips and combing all the underfur and directional hair out. You cannot over-clean deer hair, and cut it so you keep as much of the hollow hair below the dark band as possible.
With the thread right at the eye, set the deer hair on top with the tips pointing back the same length as the Antron overwing, take two wraps and pull straight toward yourself so the hair flares but stays on top, add a third wrap, then two more going back.
Fold the forward butts back over the top of the hook to form a small bullet head, keeping the hair on top and lifting any that rolls down the sides by loosening the thread, then lock it with thread behind the fold.
Give it its butch haircut: pull the hair back, cut it at an angle away from the head so it ends at the tail, then trim the sides flat down the line of the body.
Optionally tie a pair of fine rubber legs in on each side with the thread at the base of the head, then whip finish.