Fripple 3.0: Caddibaetis

And yet another variation...

Fripple: Caddisbaetis

I look back on my history with the original or version 2.0 Fripple patterns and find I've tweaked this fly more than probably any other pattern in my little fly boxes. And like Brian Fantana says "60 percent of the time, it works every time", so we may as well keep trying to get that number up to something like 80 or 90 percent.

As it is with a lot of my pattern variations, the changes come as a result of fishing it and finding ways to catch more fish under different conditions. This rendition came out as a result of needing to increase the buoyancy a bit more in order to either support small droppers or to perform better on rougher water in rivers. Not only that, I wanted to take a lazy route and make this thing imitate a wider variety of bugs so I could fish this across hatches.

In order to get that, I added a good clump of CDC, improved the hackle method and created a more realistic non-foam thorax area. At the same time, we keep the Klink style hook and the medallion sheeting wings -- both of which are the real key to the effectiveness of this style pattern. The end result is a fly that has nailed fish eating Drakes, Callibaetis and Caddis -- all on the exact same color and size fly.

A Brown trout that was alternating between eating caddis and some PMD's.

And speaking of hackle, rather than cutting the underside like I did with the Green Drake version here, I employed the para loop or hackle stacker method to get a good solid dense clump of hackle fibers. This method is definitely one to learn.

Material List

Hook: Daiichi 1160 or 1167 #10 - #16  (BUY HERE)
Thread: UTC 70 Denier, Fl. Fire Orange (hot spot)  (BUY HERE)
Body: MFC Premium Thread, 8/0, Light Brown  (BUY HERE)
Ribbing: Midge Flash, Tan  (BUY HERE)
Under-Wing: MFC Bulk CDC, Golden Olive or Nature's Spirit CDC, Brown Olive   (BUY HERE)
Wing: Medallion Sheeting, Buggy Light Dun  (BUY HERE)
Thorax: Ice Dub, Pheasant Tail  (BUY HERE)
Hackle: Whiting Hebert Miner Saddle, Speckled Badger or Whiting Rooster Saddle in Barred Dark Ginger, Grizzly Coachman Brown or Golden Badger. Many options and great colors!  (BUY HERE)