Tabou Caddis Emerger
A slow day of fishing on one of my favorite Colorado rivers prompted me to look at the emerging caddis a tad more closely than usual. That afternoon three years ago changed my whole view on fishing caddis hatches.
I stood in the stream watching sporadic emergers float past me and wondered why I was catching so few fish. No trout were rising, but I frequently saw flashes in the water and surmised the trout were feeding on emergent caddis below the surface.
I seined the water to collect specimens, and saw that caddis emergers are gangly, awkward critters before they become flying marvels. Most emerging caddis patterns are neat and tidy, and I had no patterns in my box that were disheveled enough to resemble the real insects. Several trips later, I tested some experimental patterns using chickabou and after several modifications, eventually came up with a fly that has all the features of an emerging caddis—gangly legs, a segmented body, a mottled soft wing, and a large head.
Materials
This simple fly uses a hook, thread, and only two other materials: Brahma hen feathers and Stretch Magic. Whiting’s Brahma Hen Soft Hackle with Chickabou is a full pelt with both soft-hackle feathers and the soft, flowing chickabou feathers attached. You can also purchase these feather products separately. The best Brahma hen colors for the Tabou Caddis Emerger are dyed tan, pale yellow, and golden olive.
Stretch Magic is a craft material used to make necklaces and bracelets. It is sold in stores like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. Stretch Magic stretches to nearly three times its original length without breaking, and since it can be stretched nearly flat, it is easy to work with. It is tough and durable, making it resistant to toothy fish. I frequently use .5 mm diameter for nymphs, but it also comes in .7 mm and 1 mm diameters for larger flies such as variations of the Crazy Charley.
Caddis Tactics
You could make a lead wire underbody for this fly, but I don’t. It’s meant to rise like an emerging insect, so I most often use it as a dropper below a caddis dry fly—usually Hans Weilenmann’s CDC & Elk. The Tabou Caddis Emerger has many similarities with the CDC & Elk, namely, the technique in which the body is constructed and the long, undulating legs that are the byproduct. [See flyfisherman.com/ftb/hwcdc/ for tying instructions for the CDC & Elk. The Editor.] You can also fish the fly below larger attractor patterns such as Stimulators or terrestrials such as grasshoppers.
Separate the dry fly and the dropper with 18 inches of 4X or 5X monofilament to keep the Tabou Caddis Emerger in the top 6 inches of the water column. This depth has netted the most caddis-eating trout for me during hatch situations and is the main reason I don’t build weight into the fly.
When there is nothing hatching, I fish the fly deeper as part of a two-fly rig below a strike indicator and end the drift with a swing and a twitch. Tie the Tabou Caddis Emerger about 18 inches below a weighted nymph such as a Prince Nymph or Golden Stone. Dead-drift the flies near the bottom, and then allow the current to raise the fly to the surface as the line comes tight downstream. Just before you lift the fly out of the water, give the line a subtle twitch. A fish following the fly as it swings from the bottom often cannot refuse the twitch.
Speed Tips
I like to crank out a dozen or more Tabou Caddis Emergers at a time, and because this fly is so easy, anyone can do it. Pre-strip the soft-hackle feathers, and pre-select the chickabou feathers for however many flies you want to tie, and lay them in front of you. If the material is prepared like this, you can easily tie one Tabou Caddis Emerger per minute. I take this one step further and pluck an entire Brahma hen pelt, placing the prepared chickabou feathers in one baggie and the soft-hackle feathers in another. It takes me about an hour to clean one pelt, but it saves much more time than that when tying the flies.
Steve Schweitzer is co-founder of globalflyfisher.com. He lives in Parker, Colorado.
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