Ribbon Caddis

One of the highlights of this spring has been the tailwaters. Barring one brief period when South Australian almond growers cried out for water, the tailwaters have stayed low, with steady cool flows.

Wider than your average stream, tailwaters at these levels are typically a series of long slower pools with shallower runs and riffles in between. It is here where the action is during the day. Save the pools, particularly the tail-outs, for the evening rise.

Wide gravel beds and cool water equal caddis. Particularly the net spinning Hydropsychidae. Quite active during the day, the larvae are often dislodged and tumble along the bottom for a distance before finding purchase again. These loose larvae make easy pickings for the fish.

Along with the drifting larvae are caddis pupae — larvae that have transformed for their trip to the surface to hatch into a winged adult. Caddis pupae are active swimmers, rising quickly to the surface.

This action of rising through the water column is a great trigger for the fish and replicating it with your fly can see some great action. The easiest way to achieve this is swinging your fly down-and-across the current. Many of us have unintentionally caught a fish when we have let our fly drift back.

Cast upstream at 45 degrees, followed by an upstream mend to help your fly to get down quickly. Keep an eye on your line; the aim is to keep it slightly upstream to your fly. If a downstream line bend begins, throw another upstream mend to correct it. As the fly passes you, the line will begin to straighten out and swing back towards your side. This is when your fly begins to rise in the water.

Takes on the swing are often a short, sharp pull. Try to resist striking hard — with no slack in the system, fish are often lip hooked and it is easy to wrench the hook straight out. A steady lift of the rod, keeping the tension on, will suffice. If you find you’re getting solid takes but missing fish, try holding your rod tip a little higher above the water, just to add a little slack into the line, allowing the fish to take the fly and turn down before the line comes tight.

Once you get the hang of what your line is doing and where the fly begins to rise, you can start targeting fish-holding areas. It is very satisfying to swing your fly past a spot and get a take just where you thought a fish might be sitting.

A well weighted pattern works best; enough weight to get down quickly on the drift and to resist the current on the swing, giving a slower steady rise through the water. Too light a fly and it will race to the surface as soon as the swing begins.

The Ribbon Caddis has evolved through many variations. The addition of a brass collar covered the need for a little extra weight, with the advantage of a hotspot of colour. Green or orange have been the standouts. Thin rubber legs give great motion in the water and are durable enough to survive all day. Soft hackles or CDC are great, but more fragile.

The use of Organza ribbon has been floating around Facebook tying pages for a while, and was the final change, providing a translucent abdomen with a little sparkle, almost a backlit quality to it.

To begin the Ribbon Caddis thread a tungsten bead onto your hook, followed by a coloured collar. These go by various names — bug bands, brass collars, neck rings. They are a thin metal band shaped to fit into the rear of the bead, adding a little more weight and a splash of colour. If, like me, you are using a slotted bead, you can reverse the collar so it will sit closer to the bead.

Starting behind the collar and bead, build up a small amount of thread to lock them in place behind the hook eye. Then select one strand of Shaggy Dub, fold it in half around your thread and tie it in as you lay a base of thread down the hook shank, finishing slightly around the bend.

For the abdomen cut a 2- or 3-inch length of Organza ribbon. Then trim a 3 or 4 mm strip from one side of the ribbon. From this pull out the few long fibres that run the full length, leaving just the edge strip with the short fibres at 90 degrees.

Tie this in at the back of the hook and wrap forward in touching turns. As you wrap, the short fibres will stand out from the shank like a tiny palmered hackle. Tie off behind the bead, trim any excess and secure with a half hitch or two.

Begin forming the thorax with a little dubbing, then tie in another strand of Shaggy Dub either side for the legs. Add a little more dubbing to your thread, place one wrap between the legs to separate them and finish with a wrap or two directly behind the collar. Secure your thread with a neat whip finish and trim. Lastly hold the Shaggy Dub strands up together and trim them to approximately a hook shank length.

With the jig hook riding point-up to reduce snagging, a splash of colour and weight to get down quickly before being drawn upwards on the swing, movement from the legs, and the backlit translucent abdomen, the Ribbon Caddis ticks a lot of boxes.

With the weather warming, the tailwaters are fishing well, but eventually the irrigation season will begin and the fun will be over for another year. Until then, keep an eye on levels and swing some gravel beds.