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Spotted / Tan Caddis (Hydropsyche spp.)
Caddis, hatching May–August, active in water between 55 and 70°F, and imitated at #14–18. Recorded from every region this map covers, across Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina and Minnesota.
The commonest caddis on most of this water and the workhorse of the summer: a tan to cinnamon tent-winged adult, size 14 to 18, peaking from May through August. The larva spins a net in fast water to strain drifting food, lives everywhere there is current, and is constantly dislodged and constantly eaten, which makes a green or tan caddis larva a default nymph and keeps the insect in the drift year-round even when nothing is on the surface. The pupa rises to the film in the evening, and a swung pupa is the most reliable way to fish the hatch. Egg-laying adults dive and skitter, which a dead drift does not imitate. Activity runs 55 to 70 degrees, covering cold through warm water. Elk Hair Caddis 12 to 20, CDC Caddis 14 to 20, X-Caddis 14 to 18, LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa 12 to 18, Partridge and Orange Soft Hackle 12 to 18, Hare's Ear 10 to 18.
- #14–18Hook size
- 55–70°FWater, active
- May–AugPeak months
- 3Life stages fished
What it is
Caddis · Hydropsyche spp. · larva → pupa → adult
Hydropsyche: the commonest caddis on most of this water. A tan to cinnamon tent-winged adult, size 14 to 18, with a net-spinning larva that lives everywhere there is current.
The workhorse summer caddis. A net-spinner, so it is in the drift year-round even when nothing is on the surface.
When it hatches
The months below are this site's shared calendar, which covers 8 regions at once. In southeast Minnesota the state's own source says May–July, and the Minnesota page is built on that instead.
Peak is May–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 55°F to 70°F. On this map that is cold, cold-transitional, cool, warm water — the band crosses 3 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 | Spins a net in fast water to strain drifting food. Constantly dislodged and constantly eaten — a green or tan caddis larva is a default nymph. |
| pupa | Rises to the film in the evening. A swung pupa is the most reliable way to fish this hatch. |
| adult | Tan, tent-winged, and everywhere from May through August. Egg-layers dive and skitter, which a dead drift does not imitate. |
Matching flies
6 patterns in this book imitate the Spotted / Tan 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.
- Hare's Ear Nymph nymph · #10–18 — Looks like everything and nothing. The other half of a two-nymph rig.
- 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.
- Ash Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Baker Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Bear Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Beaver Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Big Rock Branch the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Big Spring Branch the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Big Spring Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Bohn Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Boulder Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°F
- Brewery Creek the Wisconsin driftless · July mean 62.3°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
- Au Sable River
- Catawba River
- Jackson River
- Muskegon River
- Escanaba River
- Saint Croix River
- Smith River
- Tygart Valley River
- Kalamazoo 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
- and 6470 more
Related hatches
Same family, or overlapping this one's calendar on the same water.
- Little Sister Caddis Cheumatopsyche spp. · Caddis · June–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