No photograph
dry
Front End Loader Caddis
- Sizes
- #10
- Imitates
- caddis adult · emerging caddis
- Origin
- Devin Olsen
A hackle-stacker elk hair caddis with a Callibaetis Super Fine body, Glo Brite tag, and grizzly hackle wrapped on a Sexi Floss post. Rides low in the film but holds up a heavy bead.
Recipe
This is one dressing. Tie it in other colors to match the hatch in front of you.
- HookDohiku 301 or 611 — size 12 · Dohiku
- ThreadVeevus 16/0 — Dark Tan (rear); Semperfli 12/0 Beige (front) · Semperfli
- BodyCallibaetis Super Fine or Purple Ice Dub
- RibPearl Sulky Tinsel
- WingNatural elk hair
- HackleGrizzly dry-fly hackle
- TagGlo Brite #5, #7, #1, or #12
- Rib 2Semperfli Nano Silk 12/0 — Brown (counter)
Workbench
Variants
Swipe to see In box and Add
| Size | Bead | Body | In box | Add to box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #10 | — | — | — | — |
At the vise
Tying notes are not on file for this pattern.
Tying video
Fishing now on
Rivers whose hatch chart names this pattern this month. Names and sizes only.
- Barren Fork Creek#12-18
- Green River#14-16
- Kootenai River (below Libby Dam)#14-18
- Madison River#6-10
- Rio Chama#16-18
On the water
The Sexi Floss hackle post keeps the hackle off the film — fish hangs low without sinking. Glo Brite tag is the trigger.
History
Devin Olsen tied his first Front End Loader Caddis in 2013 during practice for the World Fly Fishing Championships in Norway. The brown trout in the rivers they were fishing weren't dense, so he was covering vast flats with dry-dropper rigs. He needed a dry fly that would hold up a tungsten bead but also sit in the film to convince the browns to eat on flat water. He took the hackle-stacker style from one of his favorite mayfly dries and merged it with an elk-hair caddis. The pairing worked perfectly on Norwegian brown trout and is now his favorite dry-dropper dry.