Blog

@anna_on_the_fly is on the water constantly. She is constantly trying new things -- new flies, new techniques, and new gear. We are grateful that she's an Ambassador for DiscountFlies. And, we're grateful that she shares her knowledge and adventures with us here in the "Fly of the Week" (or month during the "off" season) Column.

August 12^th 2022

FLY OF THE WEEK!!! Alright ya’ll before you head into your weekend take a look at a hugely underrated fly- “Bjorn's Flash Midge Pupa”! I think sometimes the name of the fly can limit our use of the fly. Although this is a KILLER midge pupa pattern I have found it is the most effective caddis larva pattern in my fly box. The green flashback looks exactly like the green body of a caddis and the extra flash catches the attention of trout quickly, especially on sunny days. But what really brings this fly home is the black bushy thorax, it imitates the head and legs of a caddis larva very well!

Last weekend we fished a river with an extremely high abundance of caddis, literally every other cast we were catching cased caddis. As much fun as that was I wanted to catch fish so I threw on Bjorn’s Flash Midge Pupa and it was game on after that!! We caught about 15 fish and probably 10 of them were on the Bjorn Midge Pupa if not more. I will typically fish this in a size 18 or 16 as my last fly off a dry-dropper or nymph rig so that it rides along the bottom where larva typically sit.

This is the time of year where caddis are very abundant on rivers and streams across the US. If you see an active caddis hatch, find some caddis pupa or larva in your seine or just catch a stick COVERED IN THEM trust me you will not be disappointed if you use this fly!

I have added two videos to give you an idea of some signs that will tell you when to throw on a trusty Bjorn’s Flash Midge Pupa. Scroll to see a video of a stick I caught covered almost completely in cased caddis, some empty, some still with the caddis inside. And a video of a caddis crawling out of it’s casing. In the 5th photo that was the last fish of the day and the fly was falling apart after the beating it took from the first 9 fish or so and it still caught fish looking beat up and scraggly.

When you are out this weekend remember to think outside of the box, forget the name and truly match the hatch. It will make the difference between a good day and a great day on the water!!