Nymph · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 1 version
Lucian Vasies
Hook Demmon Supreme J100 BL jig hook, 14
Thread Tyer's choice Tyer's choice
Materials
Bead Black nickel bead (3.5mm slotted tungsten)
Body Caddis green (4mm Ultra Wormy Chenille)
Case Natural case (cased caddis dubbing (custom blend))
Head Black ostrich herl (Troutline UV resin)
How to tie it
Slot the 3.5mm black nickel tungsten bead onto the J100 jig hook and start the thread behind it.
Tie a length of caddis green Ultra Wormy Chenille in at the rear of the shank so most of it hangs free off the back of the hook. This semi-free body is the whole idea. It moves independently in the current instead of drifting stiffly like a normal cased caddis.
Bind the chenille down along the rear third of the shank only, leaving the tag end loose and mobile.
Spin the cased caddis dubbing into a loop and wrap a rough, twiggy case over the middle of the shank up to the bead, picking it out so it looks like debris rather than dubbing.
Build a small head of black UV resin behind the bead and cure it. The dark resin head reads as the caddis's head and armours the front of the fly against wear.
Fish it dead drift right on the bottom in early season, Vasies rates it as one of his best flies for the opening days, imitating a caddis that has drifted out of, or is abandoning, its case.