Steelhead "Electric Candy Caddis" Tutorial

I've decided for the new year to try and share some of my favourite patterns with you guys. I am often guilty of holding back tying steps on my own patterns because of aspirations to submit them for contract or just because of sales on my own website. I have decided however to start sharing them because in the end I'm not a greedy guy and I don't fancy myself a fly fishing snob. Expect to start seeing more of these in the coming months and to start things off I am going to use one of my favourite steelhead nymphs. Please forgive the poor photos but as some of you may know I am home from deployment but stationed away from home for most of the year.

The name for this little guy is the "Electric Candy Caddis" and a few of my materials I use have since lost the label but I will try to give you the best descriptions I can.

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

Hook : Daiichi 2451 Salmon Hook #8
Thread: UTC 140 Ultra Thread - Black
Bead: 5/32 or equivalent craft bead - Orange
Tail: Black Goose Biots
Rib: Stripped Craft Store Ribbon
Abdomen: Dave Whitlock SLF Dubbing - Dark Stone Nymph
Collar: Black Hen Back
Wing: Pearl Flashabou or stripped hackle tips (Optional)

Step 1
Slide the Bead onto the hook and start an even thread base, attach one goose biot to each side of the hook shank and tie down evenly. Trim off excess. Some people like to completely cover the excess biot at this time but I find its just a waste of time and creates extra bulk. Your thread will end up there anyway.

Step 2

Start dubbing from the tail forward, once you have the dubbing started tie in the craft store ribbon. This allows a nice tapered body without a lot of bulk near the tail. Once you have tied that in continue dubbing all the way toward the front stopping halfway between the eye and the hook point.

Step 3

Wrap the ribbon forward evenly. It usually takes three full wraps but you can obviously play with this if you want. Just a note though, you need to tease the ribbon with your fingers as you wrap it because it likes to roll over while your wrapping it which makes it look crappy. Once you get it forward tie it down tightly and trim it off.

Step 4

This is optional but from where I left off I like to dub a little further so I can lay down my collar. I find if I spin the collar without doing this is just doesn't lay right. Its also important to choose a good feather with tip length as uniform in the length you want as you can get. So play with it to see what works and spin the collar, I like mine a little more bulky and for this fly I will be leaving the wing out.

Step 5

The final Step is to lay down a little more dubbing ahead of the collar. This helps to flatten out the hen back and give a little better appearance. This is again up to you but I like to dub the head loosely to give it a buggier look.

Variation

























This is a variation of the same pattern that I tie on a larger, curved hook. With this pattern I like the collar much thicker and you need a larger bead, approximately a 3/16 to accommodate the larger hook. This works well in stained water and deadly on the swing at the end of a drift. I also like to tie this with a nymph head tungsten bead for a little more weight and a sweet fly shop appeal.