Silvey's Beadhead Caddis Pupa

Brian Silvey is a popular local fly fishing guide. Here is what Brian says about these caddis pupas:
Anglers fishing in the Rockies may not be as in tune with caddis because they have more options of food sources that trout focus on.  That gives these anglers the luxury of fishing attractor patterns, terrestrial patterns, mayfly patterns and stone fly patterns.  On the Deschutes the primary food source day in and day out for reside trout are caddis.  As a guide on this river it means I must have effective patterns that can imitate every stage of the caddis life cycle that fish will focus on to insure my clients are successful.

My Edible Emerger and Primetime Pupa are designed to target emerging caddis close to the surface or right in the surface film.  The above mentioned patterns can be fished deep for effective results but were not specifically designed to do so. 

I wanted to have a caddis emerger pattern specifically designed to be fished deeper and to get deep fast.  The result of this need is the Silvey’s Beadhead Pupa.  For weight I used a bead.  I chose pearl core braid as a quick sinking material for the body.  The pearl core braid is the same size as the bead and allows me to create a seamless taper from bead to end of body closely mimicking the tapered look of the natural.  The result is a pattern that has weight to get it down quick, materials that don’t float (and are not bulky) aiding in sinking the fly. These materials do not lose their caddis shape.  And like my other pupas the use of marabou created natural movement as the pattern is fished.