Hotwire Caddis

[SBPatt 0]

Without question, my favorite, and most effective fly for whitefish is Ken Morrish's Hot Wire Caddis. A couple years ago I was fishing the Teton River and South Fork Snake in SE Idaho and found that this fly in chartreuse and hot yellow outperformed my previous favorite, a bead-head Prince, by a wide margin. I've caught bigger whities on zebras and firebead scuds on some western tailwaters but this fly has proven a more consistent fish-getter. If you don't mind catching a trout every once in a while, straight copper, brown and black have worked pretty well, too.

 

Pretty simple fly to tie. I did this one in a bit of a hurry (while my wife was out running errands), didn't have any of the UTC wire in Small, only Brassie or X-Small so I used the Brassie, which was probably a little big for the hook size, hence the gaps between wire wraps (could have pushed them back with my fingernail but fish don't care). We'll call this a guide tie, even though I'm definitely no guide; guess I could call it a TFLTFI (Too Frikkin' Lazy To Fix It)

 

 

hook - Dai Riki 135 #16

thread - Uni 8/0 black

body - UTC Ultra Wire chartreuse

shell back - flexi floss black

underwing - goose biots brown

overwing - Krystal Flash pearl

legs - partridge hackle

collar - Ice Dub UV black

head - 3/32 black brass bead

 

 

Part 1

 

 

Mash down barb & slide bead on hook

 

 

 

Lay down a base layer of thread then tie in Flexi-floss and wire

 

 

 

Wrap Flexi-floss and wire back to and past hook bend (thread's frayed; looks like I've got a nick in the bobbin tube)

 

 

 

Wrap thread back to head and then wrap wire forward 4 turns

 

 

 

Pull Flexi-floss over top of wire

 

 

 

Hold Flexi-floss there and then wrap wire once over, pull floss back and continue wrapping wire (4 turns again)

 

 

 

Repeat

 

 

 

and again

 

 

 

 

Couple more wire wraps and snip tag end of shellback

 

 

 

 

Helicopter wire to break it and cover end with thread wraps

 

 

 

 

pull off 2 biots for the underwing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tie in "V" style with tips extending back to hook bend

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prep a partridge feather and snip out the tip

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hold partridge feather on top of fly, a couple soft thread wraps and adjust legs as needed with a tug or two

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 strands of Krystal Flash (I see a career as a hand model in my future)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tied in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Folded over (trim to hook bend)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apply small amount of dubbing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrap a sparse collar

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whip finish, add a touch of Miss Sally and you're done

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change colors and sizes as you see fit.

 

 

Steve Schalla has a good SBS on his site, too (minus the humor and snappy banter I provide free of charge)

http://stevenojai.tripod.com/insthotwirecad.htm

 

 

Regards,

Scott

[Piker20 0]

Good little fly. You can swap the flexifloss for Pheasant tail fibres too.

[mikechell 0]

Thank you for the SBS on that. I am going to try this with fly line instead of wire and without the bead, for a slower sink rate. I am fishing the edges of weeds in 2 feet of water or less, and I need a suspending look, I think this will work.

[SBPatt 0]

Thank you for the SBS on that. I am going to try this with fly line instead of wire and without the bead, for a slower sink rate. I am fishing the edges of weeds in 2 feet of water or less, and I need a suspending look, I think this will work.

 

You could sub a glass bead, too, and give it a little flash without the weight.

 

Regards,

Scott

[switch10 0]

I like it. Thanks for sharing.

[sgflyfish 0]

Nice little fly, thanks for the SBS mate !

[lykos33 0]

Well done Scott....very well done!

Murray