The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning
The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning
Midges, Caddis, October Caddis
Easy - 1-3 Min
Coldwater
There are no substitutions on this fly without it losing the name “brassie”. You can use any hook but a straight-shank nymph hook is the original recipe. I’ve seen a few tied on curved shank and they look good too.
Go nuts with variations on this fly as it’s one of the foundational patterns of most wire body patterns. You can variate on wire color and do 2-tone colors by adding two wire colors in. If you go two tone, I’d use the same wire size for each wire to keep a uniform segmentation. I found the best colors are a mix of the following in any combinations: Black, Copper, Gold, Silver, Red, Olive/Green/Chartreuse, Purple.
Beyond that, any variations really just becomes a new pattern, but you can see the simplicity of this fly as the base for most wire body patterns. Adding a tail makes for a mayfly nymph, adding rubberlegs makes it more stonefly like etc.
The beadhead brassie is a classic pattern that imitates caddis, and midge nymphs most accurately. The pattern is nearly all metal so it gets down deep and has a slim profile. It’s one of the more effective patterns out there and with a little practice becomes easy to tie. The biggest benefit of this fly is it’s profile and ability to sink. Like the cream dart or other sparse patterns, this fly really gets down fast and has little that would cause tension on the water. Slim profile + wire body + weight means it gets in the strike zone fast and catches more fish.
This is one of my favorite “dry-dropper” droppers because of how well it sinks for it’s overall weight. You want a fly that will get down deep with a dry dropper rig, but you can’t throw a 3.8mm lead wrapped bead and expect anything but a size 4 foam hopper to hold it up. Instead, this fly can be tied pretty light in a 2.0 – 2.4mm bead and still get down deep fast without dragging the dry down with it. I usually fish my dropper 24-36 inches off my dry fly and have good success with this pattern in all of its colors and variations.
| General Hatch Chart | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Caddis Sizes: #10 - #22
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| Regional Hatch Chart | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Region: West, Northwest, East, Southeast, Midwest
Midges Sizes: #14 - #26
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| Regional Hatch Chart | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Region: West, Northwest, East
October Caddis Sizes: #8 - #12
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Copyright © 2003 – 2025 MidCurrent LLC, All Rights Reserved.