Adams Hairwing Dun
Cheech - August, 2018
On a float trip in a galaxy far far away Curtis and I found ourselves with high expectations of a great caddis hatch that would surely lead to the kind of fishing where you cast as far as you can, give your fly a twitch, and just wait for the fish to propel out of the water to chase food like I do when there are unexpected free tacos in the break room at work. It was going to be what we would describe to the shop guys the next week as certifiably "insane." Well, the hatch was insane. The feeding was insane. The catching, however was neither certifiably insane, nor just normal insane. We had a boat full of our beloved palomino caddis tied in larger cinnamon colors, but the fish had a laser focus on flies that were much smaller and darker. I scoured through my 25,000 (plus or minus 3 or 4) flies, and the only fly that I had that somewhat fit the color and size profile of the caddis on the water was a size 16 Adams hairwing dun. I figured that we could always trim the tail if they wanted it more like the natural caddis that were hatching. Curtis got one tied on (with the assistance of readers because he's as old as a dat gum dinosaur) and caught a fish on the first cast. It wasn't the perfect match for the hatch that was coming off, but like the Adams series of flies, it was "close enough," and unlike engineering work, in the fishing world, if it's "close enough" it really is. We no doubt would have caught more fish that night if we would have had more natural looking caddis patterns, but the ol' hairwing did it's job that night by being "close enough."
- Hook: Daiichi 1180 - Standard Dry Fly Hook - 14
- Thread: 8/0 UNI-Thread Waxed Midge - Camel
- Tail: Nature's Spirit Moose Body Hair - Natural
- Body: Super Fine Dry Fly Dubbing - Adam's Gray
- Hackle: Whiting Rooster Dry Fly Cape - Bronze - Grizzly
- Hackle: Whiting Rooster Dry Fly Cape - Bronze - Coachman Brown
- Wing: Nature's Spirit Select Cow Elk - Medium Dun
- Tools Used: Hard As Hull Head Cement, Dr. Slick Razor Scissors - 4", Tiemco Midge Whip Finisher, Loon Gator Grip Dubbing Spinner,
