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Little Sister Caddis (Cheumatopsyche spp.)
Caddis, hatching June–August, active in water between 60 and 74°F, and imitated at #16–20. Recorded from the Wisconsin driftless and northern Wisconsin, where 1611 Wisconsin rivers on this site carry a page.
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- #16–20Hook size
- 60–74°FWater, active
- Jun–AugPeak months
- 3Life stages fished
What it is
Caddis · Cheumatopsyche spp. · larva → pupa → adult
A small tan-to-ginger caddis with mottled wings, close to the spotted caddis in shape and two or three sizes smaller. Cream-to-olive net-spinning larva.
The smaller relative of the spotted caddis, and probably the most numerous adult caddis on summer water in all these states. Rarely announced as a hatch because it is never absent.
When it hatches
Peak is June–August. The pale months either side are the shoulder — the app widens a peak by one month in each direction and recommends the bug there, and no further: that widening is bounded so that a bug peaking in May is never offered in August.
peak shoulder not recommended
Water conditions
The band is a water temperature, not an air temperature, and it is the range in which this insect is worth fishing — for a mayfly that is the emergence window; for a scud or a midge it is simply the range trout will still eat one in.
Active from 60°F to 74°F. On this map that is cold-transitional, cool, warm water — the band crosses 2 of the three breaks the river colours use. Breaks at 58, 64 and 70°F.
Stages
What the insect is doing, and what that means for what you tie on.
| Stage | What it is |
|---|---|
| larva | A net-spinner in riffles, tethered in a silk retreat and dislodged constantly. A green or tan caddis larva in fast water is fishing this. |
| pupa | Rises to emerge from late morning through evening in summer. A sparkle pupa in the surface film is the reliable answer. |
| adult | On the water through summer in numbers that never quite become an event. Egg-laying females dive and swim, which is why a swung wet fly works when a drifted dry does not. |
Matching flies
5 patterns in this book imitate the Little Sister Caddis, across its stages. Which one to tie on follows the stage the water temperature says it is in — the app makes that call on a live reading; this page lists the whole set.
- CDC Caddis dry fly · #14–20 — Lower in the film than an Elk Hair. For flat water and educated fish.
- Elk Hair Caddis dry fly · #12–20 — Floats forever, skates on command, works when nothing is hatching.
- LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa emerger · #12–18 — The gas-bubble pupa. Fished rising through the swing, which is how caddis actually emerge.
- Partridge & Orange Soft Hackle wet fly · #12–18 — Swung down and across. The simplest fly here and among the most effective.
- X-Caddis emerger · #14–18 — Trailing shuck, no hackle. The crippled-emerger version of the Elk Hair.
Where to find it right now
The rivers with a page here that sit in this insect's regions, with a USGS gauge reporting water temperature. This list is re-ranked against the reading each gauge is sending now and today's date, so it is live — the fallback below it, if the readings do not arrive, is each river's measured July mean.
- Badger Mill Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 66.8°F
- Fryes Feeder the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 66.8°F
- Allen Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 67.4°F
- Apple Branch the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
- Brennan Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
- Brown Branch Spafford Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
- Burgy Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
- Bushnell Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
- Canon Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
- Center Branch Hefty Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 67.4°F
Regional presence
Regions, not collection records. This insect is recorded from the coarse regions below; nobody has surveyed which named river it has been caught on, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
- northern lower Michigan MI
- southern lower Michigan MI
- the Upper Peninsula MI
- the Wisconsin driftless WI
- northern Wisconsin WI
- the Virginia mountains VA
- the North Carolina mountains NC
- southeast Minnesota MN
Rivers in these regions with a page here
- Saint Croix River
- Adams Creek
- Alder Creek
- Alder Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allenton Creek
- Allequash Creek
- Alvin Creek
- Amo Creek
- Anderson Creek
- Annis Creek
- Apple Branch
- Apple Creek
- Apple River
- Arkansaw Creek
- Armstrong Creek
- Armstrong Creek
- Arnold Creek
- Ash Creek
- Auburn Lake Creek
- Augustine Creek
- and 1587 more
Related hatches
Same family, or overlapping this one's calendar on the same water.
- Spotted / Tan Caddis Hydropsyche spp. · Caddis · May–August
- Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. · Caddis · May–August
- White Miller Nectopsyche spp. · Caddis · July–September
- Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie Rhyacophila spp. · Caddis · April–June and September–October
- Grannom Brachycentrus spp. · Caddis · April–May