Tie on a floating adult pattern and use standard upstream dry-fly techniques. Patterns that work as searching dries include Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulator, Goddard Caddis and X-Caddis.

Knowing the stages of development in a bug’s life is a critical component to successful fly fishing. Deciphering the hatch on ...

Two- fly nymphing setups, with a stonefly pattern as the lead fly, have been productive. A few pale-morning-dun mayflies, a traditional summertime staple, already have been noted.

And it’s all starting right now. Afternoons and early evenings can be magical, as adult female caddis come back to the water to lay their eggs on the water’s surface. Good patterns to carry are ...

Gallentine fishes a dry fly pattern like the dark-bodied elk hair caddis. Sometimes he'll tie a nymph like a pheasant tail or beadhead prince to the back of the dry fly, known as a dropper.

A great way to fish a caddis hatch is to fish an emerger pattern on a short dropper tied to the hook bend of a caddis dry fly. As for dries, once again, there’s rarely a need to overthink patterns.

Maynard is constantly searching for a better way, a better tie or better fly-tying materials. One of the author's favorite patterns is the Bow Tie Caddis.

Like its land-based cousins, butterflies and moths, from whom it diverged 250 million years ago, the caddis fly larva then undergoes a metamorphosis and emerges as a winged adult.