Now, I've learned from the best of the west...Dan Bailey, Bob Jacklin, Ross Bruner, and the guys at the old Wild Wings shop in Bozeman, among a slew of guides and western trout bums. True trout bums...not the wannabe trout bums I see so many of now in the driftless. How can you be a trout bum on weekends? But, the one thing in common I learned from all of them was nymphing with a point fly and dropper. Not this dropper thing tied into the bend of a hook, either. The dropper is off the tag of the surgeons or blood knot. The heavier tag coming down from the leader to the tippet. The bottom fly is the point, the tag fly is the dropper, and another fly further up would be the 'bob' fly. I seldom have fished a 'bob' fly but so much for czech nymphing being new...There is little new in flyfishing except marketing techniques.
We'd throw bitch creeks with hares ears on the dropper on the Madison...catching trout mostly on the BC and whitefish on the hares ear. Go fiigure...you'd think the trout would be up and the whitefish with that sucker mouth looking down, but that was not the norm.
Way back in '79 we stopped at Dan Baileys in Livingston for a trip to Nelsons spring creek. Stocking up on flies I let my local friends pick out the flies we would need. Standing there silent, Dan came over and handed me a half dozen Peeking caddis and told me to try them. Once at Nelsons we split up and I fished under an old tree that provided shade to a riffle and pool much like a driftless stream. My friends went out into the sun and the flats to fish to risers. After a couple of hours they returned with tales of tough fishing and one or two rainbows each. I was smiling after a half dozen large browns on that Peeking caddis. I'm still not sure they believed how well I did. Hell, I was in Wisconsin the day before. What could I know. Then I told them about the peeking caddis.
On my return to wisconsin I caught many trout on that fly...in fact I'm sure it has taken more trout for me than all the pink squirrels in the entire driftless for everyone else. Pardon the hyperbole...but, the Pink Squirrels inventor, John Bethke himself in my kitchen, told me the ps is nothing but a cased caddis. Green, pink, or cream, they all work, In deference to John I do tie some with pink collars. My first double on trout was on a pair of brook trout taking a pair of peeking caddis. My second double was the next cast and another pair of brook trout taking the tandem PC.
It was a few years later that Gary LaFontaines book 'Caddisflies' came out. I bought it and read it. At the same time a Museum of American Flyfishing banquet at Blackhawk country club in Madison had a box of caddis tied by Gary Borger. In the box was several dozen Lafontaine emergers. They did not fish well here in the driftless...too much material, more for a western river than our spring creeks. They would tend to float. A little less material and I soon had emerging pupa catching trout. In fact the first time I tried my prototype it produced 15 fish in 15 casts including one thrown over a large log and a fish chasing it right out of the water as the fly lifted over the log. I still can't believe that brown trout hooked itself on the fly while it was out of the water.
Well, it wasn't too long before I came to the obvious conclusion...the lafontaine emerger had to go on the dropper above the peeking caddis. The larva on point and the pupa on the dropper...both in the proper place in the water column. Same as out west but with spring creek inclinations. The first chance to try it was Black Earth Creek outside of Madison. A pair of beautiful BEC browns took at once and I had my first brown trout double. But, I was the one hooked...on that tandem rig. I fished it like religion...through hatches, all season long...flat water risers, riffles, upstream, down, and down and across. All worked great. It is still my favorite way to fish in the driftless accounting for a dozen or so doubles a season, although I remember last year getting 4 or 5 in a single day. Fishing with author Kevin Searock years back we discussed this and he fished a tandem rig tied to the bend of the hook. He mentioned never catching two at a time. I said the movement of the dropper on the short tag makes it available to other trout. In line affects that movement. So, he switched to my tandem caddis and immediately on his first cast had a double on, losing one at his feet. We felt bad until his next cast produced another double, this time landing both. My case was proved...
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