Fly Tie of The Week: CDC Caribou Caddis (The Armijo Special)

Faithful anglers, on this second edition of Fly Tie of The Week we will showcase the CDC Caribou Caddis.  I'm not sure that you will find this one in a catalog, but it's simply a local twist on a classic tie.  Tied by good friend and Master Tier, Jimmy "Big Head Todd" Armijo, this pattern is a simple introduction to tying dry flies, and moreover, is an excellent fly for the Gallatin and surrounding waterways.  The photo to the left, which exhibits a spotted Caddis at rest, was taken two nights ago on a stretch of the Gallatin.  Over the past four days we have experienced consistent evening and afternoon Caddis hatches, and with the hopefully imminent explosion of the Golden Stones and Salmon Flies, dry fly season is on the foreseeable horizon. Water levels are dropping daily, clarity is steadily improving above the Taylor's Fork and below, the river has turned from Yoohoo to Green Tea.  Things are looking up.  At any rate, here's the tie, enjoy.

 

1.    Place a size 12 to 18 Dai Riki #125 Dry/Emerger hook in your vice.

2.       Starting behind the eye, wrap thread back along hook shank until even with barb.

3.    Apply dubbing (tan or color of choice) to thread by twisting small, light amounts of dubbing onto thread itself.  Do it, as Jimmy says, light and tight.

4.       Wrap thread and dubbing forward creating a smooth naturally tapered body.  Leave approximately one and a half eye lengths to tie in wings and head.

      

5.       Line up 3 to 5 feathers of tan CDC (or color of choice), in a way that the feathers lie parallel atop each other.

6.       Measure out wing to approximately one and a quarter hook length.  Tie in at head directly in front of dubbing.

7.       Trim butt ends to approximately one eye length creating a head.

What it should look like up to this point.

 

8.       Cut small clump of Caribou fibers and clean out under fur thoroughly.  Try to keep butt ends aligned.

   

9.       Tie in Caribou fibers directly on top of where CDC was tied in so that ends of Caribou are even with ends of CDC.

10.       Trim butt ends to approximately one eye length so that they are even with butt ends of CDC.

11.       Apply SMALL amount of dubbing to thread, again through twisting.

12.       Wrap dubbed thread over and on top of where Caribou and CDC were tied in to create a small dubbed head.

13.       Whip finish and tie off behind eye of hook.

14.       Apply small amount of head cement to knot behind head.

15.       Remove, tie on leader and apply to lip of trout.