Doctor's Sweetmeat Caddis - Fly Tying Instructions by Charlie Craven
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- čas přidán 13. 01. 2022
- Fly Tying Recipe:
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Hook: #14-16 Hanak 450 BL
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Bead: Slotted tungsten gold jig bead, sized for weight
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Thread: Brown 6/0 Danville
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Abdomen: Small golden olive UTC wire
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Collar: UV Brown Ice Dub
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Wing: Natural dun CDC
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Antennae: Natural mallard flank
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Head: Peacock Ice Dub
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In the course of everyday life, we all make connections with people who strike us as just super cool. Garrison Doctor, a Boulder, Colorado native, world-class artist, passionate fly fisher, and spectacular fly tier is one of those people. I have long admired Garrison’s amazing artwork on his Facebook and Instagram feeds. The time-lapse videos of him skillfully drawing a detailed, colorful trout are sure to get a watch from me. Creative folks like Garrison have always compelled me, and I continually wonder at their talent and creativity.
Garrison grew up in Colorado, so you might assume he comes from a long line of fly fishers, but he is the first and only in his family. Like many of us, he started off as a kid with a spinning rod who bumped into a much more successful fly fisher, and the wheels were set in motion.
Somewhere in this busy schedule, Garrison somehow found the time to start designing his own flies. While he loves all fly-fishing methods, from banging the banks with streamers to the complexity of dry-fly fishing, he confesses to being an avid Euro-style fisherman, and instinctively gravitated toward jig hooks. These have been standard among competition fly fishers for many years, and are now becoming popular for everyone who fishes subsurface. Jigged nymphs offer several advantages over conventional hooked nymph patterns. They don’t snag the bottom as easily, and they tend to hook fish directly in the top lip or snout, making them easier to steer and control during the fight.
The Sweet Meat Caddis is the latest and most popular pattern to spring from Garrison’s artistic mind. It features a durable wire body, flowing CDC half-collar, and a bit of flashy dubbing. It’s a simple concoction that’s simple enough to tie, and you won’t lose sleep over it if you lose it on the bottom.
Garrison likes to tie this pattern with a few somewhat unusual colors and a variety of different bead sizes so he can tailor the weight to the depth and speed of water he is fishing at any time. He carries the Sweet Meat Caddis with bead sizes ranging from 2.3mm all the way up to 3.5mm.
While the Sweet Meat Caddis is an obvious pupa imitation, Garrison says it shouldn’t be pigeonholed to only hatch periods. A good caddis pupa pattern can be fished as an effective attractor anytime during the summer.
There are so many caddis hatches on Western rivers throughout the summer months that the fish become used to seeing them, and will eat them even during nonhatch periods.
With a jig hook and flashy bead, you’ve got a fly that can be deadly in faster pocketwater where the fly needs to get down fast and stay there. Garrison usually Euro nymphs but occasionally uses a more traditional nymph rig with a strike indicator if circumstances call for it.
I love to fish jigged nymphs like this on a dropper under a big dry, especially from a drift boat or raft with someone quietly rowing it.
While this is really a remarkably simple pattern to tie, Garrison gave me a few tips on perfecting it. He flattens the thread a bit to help create a smooth underbody for the tightly wrapped wire body, and he creates a CDC fan across the point side of the hook to form the collar. He prefers the bottom of the fly and the wire body to show clearly, and he designed the fly so the collar is on the top only.
He adds a few strands of barred duck flank feather for the antennae, using nearly any random barred feather from ducks he has harvested himself. For the rest of us, he says mallard flank works just fine. The collar and head are made from flashy Ice Dub, and he picks them out a bit to add a shaggy look to the finished product. He ties the Sweet Meat Caddis in both golden olive and ginger color variations in #14-18, crediting the #16 as the workhorse.
I'm glad to hear you tie left handed - I am also......
Love it!
Charlie MF Craven....your expert tips are priceless...thank you for taking the time to demonstrate since ".... don't as you say you don't always do that but today you thought it was a good idea to do it." I dig it 👍👊💪
That is a Cool little fly Charlie !!!!!
✨🎣💫
That's a neat looking pattern. Definitely different than much of what the trout are seeing tossed their way.
Sweet! Love this fly!
Awesome pattern looks great.thanks for sharing
Very nice Charlie. These kinda flies gives me an excuse to buy more materials that I don't have. :)
I love this pattern! I know my box will have these this summer.
Fun tie. Glad you shared it.
Nice 👍
Cool pattern!! Do a No Hackle video soon, keep em comin
bravooooo REGARDS FROM BOSNA AND HERCEGOVINA
Good looking pattern. I’m wondering if the fish perceive the cdc as the beginning of a shuck. Thanks for sharing.