Spin Cycle Caddis with Video

NOTE: this pattern is a Get Em Wet original, please give credit where credit is due.

This pattern is a staple in my guide box. I have never taken clients out and not fished this fly and that says something about its effectiveness. I also tie it in brown but I definitely fish this color more often. The other color I tie it in is a cream body with the rest of the ingredients black or a very dark color. This allows me to hit them with a marker to get any odd color I might need without having to carry a few dozen of one pattern alone. I also like to fish this fly for late season steelhead, especially in a tandem rig with an egg dropper or the other way around.


Hook: Blackbird Sabretooth #8-12
Thread: Danville's Flat Waxed Nylon - Chartreuse
Abdomen: Wee Wool - Fl. Chartreuse
Legs: Fl. Chartreuse Guinea Foul
Gills: Petitjean Select CDC - Olive
Collar: Olive Ostrich Herl
Head: 5/32 or 4mm Craft Store Glass Bead

Step 1

























Slip the glass bead onto the hook and start a thread base. Put the Wee Wool spool on a bobbin and tie it in just past the bend.

Step 2

























Using a material clip or spring to keep it out of the way, pull the Wee Wool off to the side and wrap your thread all the way to the end point which is about half way around the bend.

Step 3

























All the body you see above is thread. Using your thread or any other very smooth material you wish, build up a smooth tapered underbody. It is very important that it be smooth or the next step will not look right.

Step 4

























To wrap the Wee Wool for the body you need to take the bobbin neck in between your thumb and in deck finger and spin it until the wool thread is nice and tightly spun, than wrap it uniformly from the back to the front taking care to leave no gaps

Step 5

























This next step is difficult if you have not used this method before. Take a needle or fine point bobbin and grab the thread with your off hand. Make sure the thread has had time to unpin after the last step and poke your needle through the thread. If you're using the flat waxed like your supposed to the thread will split in the middle and leave you with an open triangle to work with.

Step 6

























Take a very nice CDC feather and stick one side of it into the thread triangle you just created. Allow the thread triangle to close onto the feather but keep the bobbin secure so it does not son too much

Step 7

























Trim the stem off the feathers and save the feather itself because you can use the other side. Once you've trimmed it now you need to spin it just like you did the wool. This makes sure to secure the fibers and splay them out like you would like.

Step 8

























Once you've spun the CDC rope, slowly wrap it to form the collar. Make sure to tease the fibers backwards with your finger with every wrap to make sure the fibers don't get trapped. Repeat this step as many times as you would like until you are happy with the collar. When you are done tie in the Guinea foul for the legs.

Step 9

























Take three or four ostrich herls and tie them in ahead of the collar. Secure them in a hackle plier and spin them to create a herl rope. Once that is done wrap it to form the head of the fly.