Black Caddis Larva & Black Fly Larva

Gary LaFontaine has a Blackfly larva pattern on pages 42-44 in "Trout Flies". It's pretty simple: #16-20 1xl nymph hook (Tiemco 3761 for example), dark olive floss on the rear half, next 1/4 dark grey dubbing, head of black ostrich or marabou. Weight the front 1/2 of the hook with fine lead wire, tie with black thread, finish with small head. You could probably substitute a smaller metal or glass bead for the head or ostrich/marabou- I would undersize the bead to keep it in line with the natural bug. Gary also recommends fishing the pattern on a tippet stained white on the last 6-8" with a Mean Streak marker (made by the Stanford Corp.). This imitates the silk thread the larva often rapel on.

There are some cool patterns for Blackfly larva on the Westfly website. Here they are:
http://www.westfly.com/fly-pattern-r...simuliid.shtml
http://www.westfly.com/fly-pattern-r...iidlarva.shtml
http://www.westfly.com/fly-pattern-r...flylarva.shtml

What little I've been able to find about imitating & fishing them seems to point toward them being a very underutilized pattern that can be deadly at moments. I do know they tend to inhabit faster water. I may tie some up to try on the Farmington tomorrow.

Check out these 2 short Blackfly articles also on Westfly- the 2nd one overlaps with the fly pattern links in my previous post.

http://www.westfly.com/feature-artic...eature_657.htm

http://www.westfly.com/feature-artic...eature_658.htm

Here is a cool excerpt from the 1st link in this post:
"In a study by Dr. J. David Allan, one of the premier stream ecologists in the country, black flies were consistently consumed by trout at a much higher rate than their proportion in the drift. While simuliids composed about 10% of the drift, they made up nearly 70% of the trout diets in June and July!

If that isn't enough for you, consider that on the same stream, Baetis--the orthodox angler's security blanket--made up 70% of the drift and contributed a mere 20% of the total trout diet, while other common drifters, Ameletus and Ephemerella mayflies, were nearly unscathed."

Torrey, I thought I read a lot and retained info. Dude.......you totally put me to shame. I love it LOL. The even better thing about this is that in the last 3 months, I have learned a ton about certain patterns from you and certain fly behavior. Great stuff. By the way, I believe the body of the adult winter caddis is more dark grayish black. If it is brown at all, it must be a VERY dark brown that looks dark gray, black. The pupa is brown. I use gray for the adult's body and have had tons of success.

You are prob right about the color of the adults. I know the pupa are light brown, and I just assumed the adults were the same color. Guess that explains all the "Black Caddis" adults I've been seeing on the rocks. I'll have to ask the master of Farmington insects, Dave Goulet, about this.

Any relation to Robert?

Rego,
Your on a roll :D Or a bun : :-\..........wacka wacka wacka

So have any of you played around with the Blackfly Larva patterns? Still haven't gotten any feedback. I really think it's a sleeper pattern.

Opie-
I spoke with Dave Goulet, and the Winter Caddis adults are the same color as the pupa, sort of a muddy, light brownish/olive. The black adult Caddis we see sometimes are the Black Caddis, an entirely separate hatch.

In all the years I have fished the Farmington, I have to say that I don't think the fish really care. The adult winter caddis are not much larger than the small black caddis. The adult winter caddis I see on the water are 18 to 20. Winter caddis around the same size maybe a little smaller. The winter caddis pattern looks just like a black caddis and I am sure to the fish, it looks very much a like.

Alrighty then. Just relaying what big Dave told me- the Black Caddis adults are black, the Winter Caddis aren't.

Cool info to know though 8)