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October Caddis (Pycnopsyche spp.)
Caddis, hatching September–October, active in water between 45 and 58°F, and imitated at #8–10. Recorded from 5 of the 8 regions this map covers, across Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia and North Carolina.
The last big bug of the season: a very large orange-bodied caddis, size 8 to 10, on autumn afternoons once the water has cooled and the leaves are down. Nothing else that size is on the water in October. The larva builds a heavy case of sand and gravel and grazes the bottom all year. The pupa migrates to the margins to emerge, and an orange pupa fished near the bank in autumn is the most productive form of this hatch. Adults are big, orange and clumsy, and egg-laying females bring up fish that have not looked at a dry since August. Activity runs between 45 and 58 degrees, covering cold and cold-transitional water, peaking in September and October. It is never a heavy hatch, but a size 8 orange fly in October gets looked at. Orange Sedge Pupa 8 to 12, Prince Nymph 10 to 18, and a Stimulator 8 to 16 all fit.
- #8–10Hook size
- 45–58°FWater, active
- Sep–OctPeak months
- 3Life stages fished
What it is
Caddis · Pycnopsyche spp. · larva → pupa → adult
A very large orange-bodied caddis, size 8 to 10, appearing on autumn afternoons when the water has cooled and the leaves are down. Nothing else that size is on the water in October.
The last big bug of the season. Never a heavy hatch, but a size 8 orange fly in October gets looked at.
When it hatches
Peak is September–October. 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 45°F to 58°F. On this map that is cold, cold-transitional water — the band crosses 1 of the three break 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 | Builds a heavy case of sand and gravel and grazes the bottom all year. |
| pupa | Migrates to the margins to emerge — an orange pupa fished near the bank in autumn is the most productive form of this hatch. |
| adult | Big, orange, and clumsy. Egg-laying females bring up fish that have not looked at a dry since August. |
Matching flies
4 patterns in this book imitate the October 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.
- October Caddis dry fly · #8–10 — Big orange caddis for the last warm afternoons of the year.
- Orange Sedge Pupa emerger · #8–12 — The pupa migrates to the bank. Fish it in close, not out in the current.
- Prince Nymph nymph · #10–18 — An attractor nymph with biot wings. Nobody agrees what it imitates and it does not matter.
- Stimulator dry fly · #8–16 — Attractor and stonefly both. Floats a dropper better than almost anything.
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.
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Ararat River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Back Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Big Cherry Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Big Ivy Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Boothe Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Brogan Branch the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Browns Dan River the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Brushy Fork the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°F
- Camp Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 49.9°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
- the Upper Peninsula MI
- northern Wisconsin WI
- the Virginia mountains VA
- the North Carolina mountains NC
Rivers in these regions with a page here
- Au Sable River
- Catawba River
- Jackson River
- Muskegon River
- Escanaba River
- Saint Croix River
- Smith River
- Tygart Valley River
- Aaron Creek
- Aaron Run
- Aarons Run
- Abb Run
- Abes Run
- Abitosse Creek
- Abram Creek
- Acme Creek
- Acorn Branch
- Adamcamp Branch
- Adams Creek
- Adams Creek
- Adamson Run
- Addis Creek
- Adkins Rockhouse Branch
- Adventure Creek
- and 5852 more
Related hatches
Same family, or overlapping this one's calendar on the same water.
- Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie Rhyacophila spp. · Caddis · April–June and September–October
- White Miller Nectopsyche spp. · Caddis · July–September
- Grannom Brachycentrus spp. · Caddis · April–May
- Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. · Caddis · May–August
- Little Sister Caddis Cheumatopsyche spp. · Caddis · June–August