Fly Tying Recipe:
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Hook: TMC 2487 #14-18
Bead (Optional): Black Tungsten Sized To Hook
Thread: 8/0 Olive Dun Or Black Uni
Rib: Chartreuse Ultra Wire (Brassie)
Shellback: Brown Super Floss
Abdomen: Olive Hairline Dubbing
Wing Buds: Brown Super Floss
Collar: Natural Dun CDC
Antennae: Cream Shrimp Fluoro Fibre
Head: Black Ice Dub
Most insects have a certain streamlined appeal, but caddis pupae just look like something you pulled out of your nose. Their gnarley legs, gelatinous bodies, and budding wings combine to form one of the most unpleasant-looking bugs on earth, but trout love them. The Caddistrophic Pupa is built on a light wire scud hook to match the hunched up curve characteristic of the natural. Perhaps the most important and effective addition I have made to this fly is the CDC collar. When wetted down and saturated, CDC turns from an incredibly buoyant material to an incredibly lively soft hackle. I like to think that I have managed to take this ugly little bug and make it into something that has a bit of appeal to my eye, although as I get older I realize it really doesn’t matter what I want in the fly, it’s the fish who decide.