How to Tie the Hemingway Caddis Variant Fly Pattern

Learn how to tie the Hemingway Caddis Variant fly pattern, including step-by-step instructions, a video tutorial, pictures, and much more. Improve your fly-tying skills here.

Trident Fly Fishing is a full-service fly shop. We spend a lot of time testing gear and writing reviews to give you all of the tools to make your next trip a success. We are not a blog or a review site. 100% of our funding comes from your gear purchases, so if this blog post helps you on your next fly fishing adventure, please support us by buying your gear from us

The Hemingway Caddis is a variation of the Henryville Special developed in the 1930s. Mike Lawson created the variation for Jack Hemingway, son of the famous author Ernest Hemingway, for fishing the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Idaho. The Hemingway Caddis is an olive version, as the Henryville Special was considered too brown to match the local caddis flies. The recipe for this fly, except for the wing, comes from Flies for Trout by Stewart and Allen. The original wing was Gray, or Dun colored duck quill. Today we will use River Foam for the wing.

Material List

• Hook: TMC 100 size 12
• Thread: UNI-Thread in Light Olive
• Rib: Ulta-Wire Copper Extra Small
• Abdomen: Nature Spirit Snowshoe Rabbit in Olive
• Hackel: Keough Dry Fly Cape Medium Blue Dun
• Thorax: Peacock Herl
• Under Wing: Hareline Mallad Flank Feather in Wood Duck
• Wing: River Foam Medium Dun Speckled
• River Road Caddis Wing Cutter

Step One

Start your thread roughly two eye lengths behind the hook's eye and secure it with a jam knot. Then wrap a thread base that extends rearward to the hook's bend.

Step Two

Now advance your thread forward to your initial tie-in point. Once there, get a few inches of ultra wire and tie it in. Wrap your thread to the bend of the hook to secure the wire.

Step Three

Apply the dubbing to your thread, creating a slim noodle--this will create the abdomen of the fly. Wrap a body with even, closely-touching wraps all the way to the initial tie-in point.

Step Four

Select a hackle that matches the size of your hook and tie it in in front of the dubbing. Be sure to tie the hackle in with the shiny side of the feather facing away from you.

Step Five

Palmer the hackle rearward until you reach the bend of the hook, then counterwrap the hackle with your wire to secure it. If fibers from the feather get trapped in the wire, use a bodkin to free them. After counterwrapping the wire, tie it down and cut the excess wire and feather.

Step Six

To make room for the wing, trim the top of the hackle.

Step Seven

Prep a Mallard Flank Feather by removing the fibers from each side of the stem, leaving only the tip of the feather. Once you've done that, measure it so that it extends just beyond the hook bend and tie it in on top of the hook shank. Once tied in, trim the excess.

Step Eight

Select the appropriately-sized River Road Caddis Wing Cutter for the hook that you're using and cut a set of wings out of the River Foam.

Step Nine

Measure the wing to be the size of the Mallard Flank Feather and tie them in directly on top of the hook shank. Creasing the River Foam helps to provide a natural shape to the fly's wing.

Step Ten

Select another hackle feather from the cape that you used for the body and tie it in directly in front of the wing.

Step Eleven

Select a strand of Peacock Herl and tie it in directly in front of the hackle feather.

Step Twelve

Now wrap the Peacock Herl forward to the hook's eye, then tie it off and trim the excess.

Step Thirteen

Wrap the hackle forward to the hook's eye, then tie it off and trim the excess.

Step Fourteen

Form a small head with your thread. Finish the fly with a whip finish and then add a drop of head cement and cut your thread.

Your Hemingway Caddis Variant is now ready for the next caddis hatch you find yourself in--and even when there's no insect activity, this pattern is an excellent attractor fly.