Bodkin / Patterns

Don's Orange Butt Carpet Caddis

Dry Fly · Trout · Advanced · 2 versions

Sport Fishing on the Fly dressing

  • Hook Dry Fly, 12
  • Thread Rust 8/0

Materials

  • Butt 12/0 Hot Orange Thread
  • Body 8/0 Rust Thread
  • Rib Small Copper Wire
  • Underwing Brown Antron or Z-Lon
  • Overwing Natural elk hair
  • Hackle Cree Dry Neck

How to tie it

  1. Start the 12/0 Hot Orange Thread on the hook and wind it back to the bend and a short way around it, building a small orange butt. Whip finish the orange thread and snip it.
  2. Start the 8/0 Rust Thread just behind the eye. Tie in the Small Copper Wire there and bind it back to where the orange butt ends, so the rib begins just in front of the butt.
  3. Build the body with the rust thread alone; a thread body keeps the fly sitting flush in the film. Stop well short of the eye so there is room for the wings, hackle and head.
  4. Rib forward with 5-6 evenly spaced turns of the copper wire, tie it off and snip.
  5. Double a clump of Brown Antron or Z-Lon over the thread so it forms two wings at once, bind it down and wrap back slightly. Trim it to length just past the hook bend, cutting on a 45-degree angle and snipping slowly so the ends splay.
  6. Clean the fluff from a clump of Natural Elk Hair, stack it, and measure it so the tips sit just past the underwing. Take one loose wrap, then a second loose wrap, then tighten down so the elk flares evenly.
  7. Tie in a Cree Dry Neck hackle right behind the eye, snip the excess stem, and take 4-5 wraps to form the hackle. Tie it off.
  8. Wrap the thread forward over all the uncut material butts and whip finish right behind the eye.
  9. Trim the hackle flat underneath the hook, leaving the top and sides alone, so the fly rides low. Then lift the surplus elk hair and trim it into a small, neat head.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Tyer Recipe.

Tying videos

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