My fly for this years swap is a variation of Lafontaines Dancing Caddis. It's
a fly that I used to use quite a bit, but got away from it for reasons that
escape me. Well, one reason was the $9.50 a pack for the funky Swedish Dry
Fly hooks that it called for. This year Feather craft started carrying
Gamakatsu's crippled emerger hook for about 2/3rds the price. It's very
similar in style, with a fine wire and wickedly sharp point. So, I started
playing around with it again. Not being able to leave well enough alone, I
looked for a way to enhance the pattern. It dawned on me that the original
contained no CDC. A serious character flaw. A CDC feather was added as an
underwing, and it makes a really nice drifting or skating caddis dry. It
rides hook-up for a nice stealthy profile. I tied some in tan and some in
gray, in 16's and 18's. Despite the oddball hook, it's quite easy to tie.
The hook goes in the vice point up. Looks a bit like a keel hook. The body
is dubbed to the first bend. I used Life-Cycle caddis dubbing. Next goes a
CDC feather under wing, then a sparse overwing of fine deer or early season
elk. Finally a few turns of ginger or grizzly hackle. The hackle gets
trimmed off on the bottom for a low profile. Hope every body has fun with it.
