This post was last updated on January 17th, 2016 at 08:58 pm
The Outrigger Caddis
This versatile pattern can barely pass for a caddis, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great fly! There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy fishing this beautiful fly, the first reason is it’s ability to mimic several different insects in a fairly abstract way, yet still bomb fish. I have used the outrigger caddis with great success to mimic grasshoppers, cicadas and even large stoneflies.
A side effect of the buggy looking profile of the outrigger caddis is it’s tremendous effect on cutthroat’s; they simply cannot get enough of it on some days! I recall a day last year while guiding on a small river in Idaho where we were really having a hard time hooking fish. I tied on a golden version of the Outrigger caddis and it literally turned a bad day guiding into a great trip. The yellow version of this fly did a tremendous job of mimicking the golden stoneflies that were intermittently flying around. I could not get the fish to touch any other golden stonefly patterns , but this one was just different enough to bring home the bacon. This fly floats quite well and is very visible on the water even at long distances. Don’t let the odd appearance of the outrigger caddis fool you, it is a great versatile fly.