Number Nineteen No-Hackle Caddis

Written by Jeff Serena Hits: 516

Fly Materials

Wing	Light deer hair.

Tying Instructions

Instructions

Note 1:
This is just a no-hackle variation of Al Troth's famous hair-wing
caddis dry. No-hackle versions of that pattern have been tied for
years, I
think Sid Neff first wrote about the no-hackle version. I arrived at
this one
after a lot of messing around trying to come up with a fly to match all
those straw-colored caddis flies that seem to be on every stream in
Colorado.
The name comes from the body material, which is the old #19 ("Sand")
Ligas poly dubbing.
The name recalls another effective pattern that achieved a bit of local
fame on the Colorado Front Range some years ago: the
Nineteen-and-a-Half Scud, which was dubbed with a
mixture of Ligas #19 and #20. I think I have a lifetime supply of #19
Ligas, which is a good
thing. I believe it isn't made anymore. The wing is the softest deer
hair I can find.

Note
2: Fishing the Number Nineteen No-Hackle Caddis:
It's a very simple fly, but in addition to being pretty deadly during
caddis hatches, it's also a very effective searching
fly in slow or bouncy water. In smaller sizes, it's an effective
emerger pattern for light-colored mayflies, something I
discovered by happy accident one evening on the Eagle River in
Colorado. The body is roughly dubbed.
You hear a lot of stories about how old, ratty flies catch more fish
than bright, neat, new flies.
I haven't usually found that to be the case in my own fishing, but I
believe it's true of this pattern.
So I dub the body roughly but not too full, making sure to leave some
fibers hanging off the back of the fly.
The main drawback of this pattern is that is doesn't float very well
after it has been slimed by a fish, but it's so fast and easy to tie I
just carry a bunch of Number Nineteens
and switch to a fresh fly when one gets waterlogged. Even a slow tier
can easily produce more than a dozen of these
an hour, and a fast tier can do two dozen without breaking a sweat. I
like this fly best in smaller sizes.
The best trout I've ever caught on a dry fly took a size 18 one
afternoon on the Colorado River in Byers Canyon.