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The Umkomaas River, a challenging stretch of water situated near thesmall village of Bulwer in the foothills of the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, provided good trout fishing to anglers for many years before the Natal yellowfish established itself in those waters. In particular, one fast-water section of this beautiful river used to captivate me with its dancing riffles and swift pocket water.

Here a large midstream boulder broke the current into two well-defined tongues; one of these was diverted, almost at right angles, towards the bank where it welled up as it struck the side, forming a deep undercut I knew held good fish. On two previous visits to this stretch of water, I had drifted a small rubber-legged Bitch Creek Nymph into the undercut and on both occasions the pattern had produced several yellowfish, some of respectable size. While the yellowfish were always a welcome adversary if the trout were not willing to come to the fly, it was trout that I sought. I was convinced that the undercut held sizeable trout, yet the problem of bypassing the yellowfish remained and I could not figure out a solution. The water was at least six feet deep at the bank and with polarising sunglasses I could easily make out the yellowfish nymphing just above the stream bed. I knew a deeply sunk nymph would find the same quarry it had on previous occasions, so, in the hope that it would go unnoticed by the yellowfish, I decided to drift a dry fly through the undercut.

I removed a box of dry flies from my vest and clinched on the largest Elk Hair Caddis in the box. The pattern had a dark olive body, a dark dun hackle and a bleached elk hair wing. After rubbing in some silicone paste, I cast out the imitation using an upstream reach mend to counteract drag. I was forced to throw several upstream mends into the line to avoid the drag associated with an upstream cast quartering a fast stretch of water but, although the fly appeared to drift through the undercut without any drag, it floated downstream unscathed.

After several more drag-free drifts through the undercut I began to question both my tactics and casting, when suddenly a dark shape appeared downstream of the fly. At first glance, I thought it was a large yellowfish, but closer inspection left me in no doubt that the Elk Hair Caddis was about to fall prey to an enormous brown. The trout had risen to the surface in such a leisurely fashion that I expected the rise to be slow and confident, but when it turned suddenly and showered the bank with spray, I was caught completely off guard and the trout disappeared, taking the fly and a lengthy portion of the tippet with it. I was shaken, but at the same time ecstatic at having fooled such a large opponent at close quarters.

Why the Elk Hair Caddis was able to bring such a large trout to the surface in such deep, heavy water I will never know, but it is a pattern that has proven itself so often in fast water that it has become one of my most trusted imitations. It is an imitation that I used extensively when I first fished the fast mountain streams of the Western Cape.

The Elk Hair Caddis was developed by the famous angler and fly-tier, Al Troth, who guides and ties flies in southwestern Montana, and it has become the best-selling pattern in many fly-shops in the United States, particularly the shops located in the western states where fast freestone streams predominate. Its popularity lies in the fact that it is simple to tie, durable when tied properly, and - by changing its body, hackle and wing colours - can imitate any species of caddisfly. Moreover, the Elk Hair Caddis is an excellent pattern on both fast and slow waters, although I reserve it for fast waters, especially the pocket and riffle sections of our rivers and streams. It can, however, be used in stillwaters where its stiff, palmered body hackle ensures that it is able to skitter and skate across the water’s surface.

The most effective method of fishing the Elk Hair Caddis is either to cast it directly upstream or to quarter it upstream with a slack line cast which will ensure that a drag-free drift results. However, like Randall Kaufmann’s Stimulator (pages 138-140), often the Elk Hair Caddis will be taken if it is allowed to skate across the current as it drifts past the angler, something which happens when the fly reaches a point downstream of the angler as the line tightens. The takes, if they have not come at some point in the drift downstream, will occur as the pattern skates across the current.

Sometimes trout will not take a dead-drifted dry, yet they will attack a pattern that skates across the current, possibly because the skating fly imitates a living natural. Fly-fishers willing to experiment will discover that this happens more often than many anglers realize, and armed with this knowledge they will take trout when others fail to interest them.

How to make your ownElk Hair Caddis?

ADDITIONAL FAST-WATER CADDIS PATTERNS

PARA CADDIS

HOOK: Tiemco 100 or 5230, #12 - #16.

THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, tan or brown.

BODY: Blended hare’s ear.

WING: Lacquered mottled oak turkey feather, tied tent-style. POST. Calf body hair.

HACKLE: Grizzly.

NELSON’S CADDIS

HOOK: Tiemco 100 or 5230, #12 - #16.

THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, colour to match body.

BODY: Natural fur dubbing in shades of olive, brown, tan, grey and black.

WING: Medium-to-dark elk hair.

HACKLE: With body colours of olive, grey or black, I like to use medium to dark dun hackle; with body colours of brownor tan, I like to use either grizzly or brown hackle.

ANTENNAE: Stripped hackle stems.

GODDARD CADDIS

HOOK: Tiemco 100 or 5230, #12 - #16. THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, brown.

WING: Spun deer hair, clipped to shape. HACKLE: Brown.

ANTENNAE: Stripped hackle stems

ELK HAIR CADDIS

HOOK: Tiemco 100, #10 - #18.

THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, colour to match body.

RIB: Fine copper wire.

BODY: Fine natural or synthetic dubbing. (My favourite coloursare medium olive, dark olive, tan, medium brown, darkbrown, dark grey and black.)

HACKLE: There are innumerable possible colour combinations.With body colours of olive, grey or black, I like to use amedium to dark dun hackle; with body colours of tanand brown, I like to use a brown or ginger hackle.

WING: Medium to dark elk hair.

1. Take the thread to a position above the hook barb. Tie in a length of fine wire and spin a thin noodle of dubbing onto the thread.
2. Wind the dubbing forward over approximately seven-eighths of the hook shank. Keep the body as thin as possible.
3. Select a hackle and strip the webby flue from the base of the feather.
4. Tie in the feather directly in front of the body with the concave side facing the hook shank.
5. Wind the hackle back along the hook shank in six or seven evenly spaced turns, trap the tip with the wire and wind the rib through the hackle. Tie the wire off and trim the excess wire and the hackle tip.
6. Stack 40 to 50 elk hair fibres in a hair stacker and tie them in directly behind the hook eye, ensuring that the hair does not flare too much. The hair tips should not extend beyond the bend of the hook.
7. Lift the butts of the hair up, form a small, neat thread head, half-hitch and trim the thread. Apply head cement to the thread wraps. Trim the butts of the hair to form a small head above the hook eye.

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