Bodkin / Patterns

Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis

Dry Fly · Trout · Advanced · 2 versions

The Weekly Fly dressing

  • Hook Std. Dry Fly; , #18, 14-16
  • Thread Brown Danville 6/0

Materials

  • Body Ice Dub UV Cinnamon
  • Hackle Whiting Brown Furnace
  • Rib Fine gold wire
  • Under wing CDC Dun (Gray) color tied full
  • Over wing Light Bull Elk
  • Legs Sili legs Nymph size Brown Solid
  • Head Dubbed head to match body color

How to tie it

  1. Start the Brown Danville 6/0 thread and cover the shank back to a point above the hook point.
  2. Tie in the Fine Gold Wire, then prepare the Whiting Brown Furnace saddle hackle by pulling a few barbs off the stem for a tie-in point and tie it in right after the wire.
  3. Dub Ice Dub UV Cinnamon onto the thread and wrap a layered, tapered cigar-shaped body, leaving a space at the front for the head.
  4. Palmer the hackle forward with your fingers, bright side facing forward, in evenly spaced turns; bind it down and clip the excess.
  5. Counter-wrap the wire (hackle clockwise, wire counter-clockwise) forward through the hackle to make it bomb-proof, then take three wraps of wire at the front so it cannot slip out, and break it off.
  6. Take a large CDC Dun feather, cut a section, tie it in on top, then cut and tie in again for a full, splayed underwing. Let it extend a little beyond the hook shank and cut it to length with scissors.
  7. Select fine Light Bull Elk, pull out the underfur and stack it. Put a drop of super glue on the thread wraps, away from the eye, and bind the elk down with repeated wraps at moderate tension; the glue stops it twisting, so twice as much hair can go on for the same silhouette. Clip the butts just above the eye, leaving a small head.
  8. Take two Sili legs and tie them in with two loose wraps, leaving them long; pull them into place so they form an X on each side of the hook, then bind them in firmly.
  9. Dub a small head with the body dubbing to cover the thread, touch super glue to the end of the dubbing to set it, and trim the legs a little longer than the wing, or to taste.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Tyer Recipe.

Tying videos

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