Head Cinnamon (Fischer's Flies Perfect Blend Dubbing)
Resin Clear uv resin (Solarez Bone Dry)
How to tie it
Start the brown 70 denier behind the eye and lay a smooth base back to the bend of the Superdry hook.
Dub a full, slightly shaggy cinnamon body forward to the 70% mark. October caddis are large, heavy-bodied insects, so keep this fat rather than slim. The shagginess also traps air and does the floating work that a hackle would normally do.
Clean, stack and measure a clump of orange cow elk so the tips end just past the bend, and tie it in at the 70% mark with two soft collecting wraps followed by tight ones. There is no hackle on this fly, so the flared elk is the only thing holding it up: let it splay evenly around the top half rather than pinching it to the top.
Trim the elk butts square right at the front of the wing, leaving a clean stub rather than a long taper.
Dub over the trimmed butts with the same cinnamon blend, working forward to just short of the eye, to build a dense head. This hides the stubs, adds buoyancy exactly where a hackleless caddis needs it, and gives the fly the blunt-headed look of the natural.
Whip finish behind the eye and put a drop of Solarez Bone Dry on the thread head only, resin in the elk or the dubbing kills the float.