Highstickin 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2009 Hi All...absolutely love this forum....and obviously new here...I'm what you might call an intermediate tier....maybe LOL .......Looking at some Umpqua Feather Merchant Radical Caddis....I'm trying to figure out the process in "tying" this particular pattern...I buy them and I must say....I've spanked fish with it but at 2 bucks a pop LOL I think I wanna tie a few up...any suggestions on how to tie it??thanks all beforehand on the help .....tight lines and good fishing! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JRG 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2009 Looks like they changed it a little bit from when I tied some up. I ordered some for a reference from the SJ fly shop a few years ago and they stiffed me..... Oh well, lesson learned and it wasn't too bad (about $30) but I digress and Karma is a #$%@ since I believe they've closed shop. I tied up some pretty good look alikes. Get some glass beads in whatever colors you want. I took a piece of mono, melted one end so the beads don't slip off but don't burn it.... you want the color to remain clear except on say that tan one in the picture it probably wouldn't matter. I think I used two beads seemed to give the best body size for the flies I tied. Slip on two beads to the mono and coat with uv knotsense and set it.... boom, your butt section is now done. tie this in and clip any excess mono. it has a z-lon wing, so tie in zlon, two small strands of krystal flash for accent then partridge hackle for legs and then dub a small thorax (ice dub worked nicely). Finish it off with ostrich herl or peacock herl. Of course put a bead on first.... I liked black tungsten beads for this myself as they look a little more realistic. I'll take a pic of what I tied up later on but I developed my own pattern that I think is much better as I tried this one here and there and it didn't produce jack#%^@ but our local river the small steelies we call half pounders are pretty damn selective sometimes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ridleyffo 0 Report post Posted September 19, 2009 that UV knotsense will make that epoxy like teardrop over the beads? I gotta get some beads! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JRG 0 Report post Posted September 21, 2009 that UV knotsense will make that epoxy like teardrop over the beads? I gotta get some beads! Yep, works perfect and with the little mono butt end you even get the taper. I will post pic this evening, I was in Tahoe all weekend but I did catch this small steelie on my caddis emerger Sunday evening when I got back. We call them half pounders (range from 16-22") as they start trickling now before the big boys in December.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JRG 0 Report post Posted September 22, 2009 As promised here's a pic of one I tied up.... like 4 years ago or so. Looks like I used cdc for the legs, and use 3 beads for the body.... I typically used two dark beads on the ends and a lighter color in the middle. Looks like brown ice dub for the thorax.... the bead is a little dinged up but it's a black tungsten. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sageguy 0 Report post Posted October 7, 2009 Hi All...absolutely love this forum....and obviously new here...I'm what you might call an intermediate tier....maybe LOL .......Looking at some Umpqua Feather Merchant Radical Caddis....I'm trying to figure out the process in "tying" this particular pattern...I buy them and I must say....I've spanked fish with it but at 2 bucks a pop LOL I think I wanna tie a few up...any suggestions on how to tie it??thanks all beforehand on the help .....tight lines and good fishing! I've used this particular fly all through California, Oregon, and Colorado when visiting the in-laws....boy!!! I tell ya I don't know what kinda "mojo" it has but I've never had such consistent results with a caddis pattern. The pattern is actually pretty easy to tie. I've seen Rick Fox tie this up and it's really cool. he takes mono and strings 6 glass beads onto the mono and burns the end to make what amounts to "2 bodies" For the brown Radical Caddis he colors the end of the mono with a marking pen. in sticks the "bodies' in slots in the top of a Styrofoam cup and gets to throwing epoxy on the beads...he continually drips the epoxy on the beads while turning the cup....after 5 minutes he has approx 14 bodies ready to go. Rick has some other awesome patterns out there and he's as cool as they come. Really free in sharing his info on how to tie his stuff. For some reason i've met a few tiers that are very guarded on their flies lol He's one of those talented Umpqua Feather Merchant Contract Tiers. Seems to be a number of them in California....Mike Mercer, Andy Burk, Dave Sloan, Rick Fox. I've met them all and they're all very cool guys....plugging for the California boys! LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellgrammite 0 Report post Posted October 7, 2009 Im pretty traditional with my patterns, but i would fish that all day long...the light play from the beads is probably a great trigger. Im also in the "market" for new caddis patterns...! edited because my "n" key is going bad=( Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Highstickin 0 Report post Posted October 15, 2009 Looks like they changed it a little bit from when I tied some up. I ordered some for a reference from the SJ fly shop a few years ago and they stiffed me..... Oh well, lesson learned and it wasn't too bad (about $30) but I digress and Karma is a #$%@ since I believe they've closed shop. I tied up some pretty good look alikes. Get some glass beads in whatever colors you want. I took a piece of mono, melted one end so the beads don't slip off but don't burn it.... you want the color to remain clear except on say that tan one in the picture it probably wouldn't matter. I think I used two beads seemed to give the best body size for the flies I tied. Slip on two beads to the mono and coat with uv knotsense and set it.... boom, your butt section is now done. tie this in and clip any excess mono. it has a z-lon wing, so tie in zlon, two small strands of krystal flash for accent then partridge hackle for legs and then dub a small thorax (ice dub worked nicely). Finish it off with ostrich herl or peacock herl. Of course put a bead on first.... I liked black tungsten beads for this myself as they look a little more realistic. I'll take a pic of what I tied up later on but I developed my own pattern that I think is much better as I tried this one here and there and it didn't produce jack#%^@ but our local river the small steelies we call half pounders are pretty damn selective sometimes. Sorry ya got stiffed by the San Jose Fly Shop....I had ordered some flies from those guys also...never got em either. Sad to think a shop would stiff customers but alas.........they're out of business...........wonder why? lol Heard Fly Fishing Specialties in Sacramento had bought the business....now those guys are all straight up...Rick Anderson the shop manager is one of the best in the business that I've had a pleasure to talk to...he actually gave me a bunch of free flies when I told him his "other" shop had stiffed me on a purchase.....it wasnt a part of his business then but he still made good....now that's awesome in my book..not like the other two shops in Sacramento that try and throw the kitchen sink at you....but I digress.........LOL I tell ya. The Radical Caddis is one hot number but I just wish I had the skill to tie some up.......mine just don't come close to looking like yours....lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JRG 0 Report post Posted October 18, 2009 So I revisited this pattern and revised my methods a little bit. Been like 3-4 years since I tried one but I made it look more like the picture. Had a hard time getting a decent picture but these two were alright. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Service Tech 0 Report post Posted October 18, 2009 How about a step by step? I would be interested in seeing how it is tied. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JRG 0 Report post Posted October 19, 2009 I took some pictures last night, will try to get one up soon..... I did forget one minor step though.... but nothing major. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
