[pierce652]

I was at the Orvis store the other day and was poking through their flies. They had a cased caddis fly that was simply sand glued to the shank of the hook. It was incredibly realistic. The employee there was on the phone dealing with some personal crisis and the woman there, who works in the clothing section, had no clue.

Any ideas as to how they could have adhered the sand to the hook?

[BigCliff]

I couldn't find anything in particular on a fly involving sand, but I did find another pattern for an effective cased Caddis Pattern- Charlie's FlyBox - Colorado's Best FlyShop and online Fly Tying Tutorials

I would think that for the one you described, you'd want to use some wraps of thin lead wire (don't want it TOO heavy), cover those wire wraps with thread until you've a slimmer version of the tabered shape you're after, do a light coating of epoxy where you want the sand to be, and sprinkle sand onto the fly while rotating it in the vise to make sure its coated evenly.

I've never made one that way, but that's how I'd tackle the challenge.

[pierce652]

thanks Cliff, that sounds like a good idea and Im going to give it a shot. This thing looked very real, as if you turned over a stone in the river and it was hanging onto the underside...except it had a hook comming out. It really got my attention.

[Yukon Jack]

Check this out, I think this is what you were looking for. Do a search for "Cased Caddis" it is the third on down. I tyred to link it but would not work for me.

Fly Anglers OnLine, Your Complete Internet Flyfishing Resource.

Yukon Jack

[Joni]

I have seen them tied many ways including the rocks glued, but I have also seen it tied by wrapping a lot of hackle then trim it square.

I have one that I have had great success with. It starts off with a small streamer hook, a black tungsten bead, then I combine a bunch of different colored dubbing and wrap about half way up the hook. The I tie a small chunk of foam (yellow or orange) to the back of the hook and have it extend slightly past the bend. Then I put a partridge feather and soft hackle it around the foam (this is all at the back of the hook, by the bend) Then I finish the dubbing on down the shank. The foam and the hackle should give the appearance of a caddis breaking out of the case.
I will tie one up and post it. It works surprisingly well!

[fyshstykr]

Joni,
That pattern sounds very similar to a pattern Gary La'fontaine used to tie in the 'Traveling flytiers' seminars with Jack Dennis and Mike Lawson.

The only difference was, he called it his "Garbage Can Caddis", he would take all the clippings from his flytying waste recepticle, (feathers, tinsel, thread, yarn, flashabou, everything, it doesn't matter) chop is up, put it into a loop & spin it, wrap it and trim it square, add the legs and head.
Darn thing looked amazingly real.

[sandfly]

Sounds like mainstream outfitters...


wrap some floss on the shank then coat with glue. roll in some sand from your local stream that has dried for a few days. Tie in head.. done..

[Joni]

Here is the Cased Caddis I use. I did put a turtorial in the FAQ section also.
The thing about this one is the tungsten bead puts the weight at the eye of the hook, then the foam raises the end so you don't get caught on rocks and such as much.

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Joni,

I really like the looks of your Cased Caddis. Nice tutorial and thanks for posting it in the FAQ.

Frank

[sandfly]

i tie this for the grannom hatch..