Caddis.

As soon as I saw the first fish rise, I knew what it was taking. Caddis. It's not that the splashy rise those flies elicit is solely their domain, but I had some a couple struggling about on the surface previously in the evening.

At first I thought to ignore them. My thinking being, were the rises were taking place, the fish were likely Rock Bass. However, as they kept splashing about, I became more intrigued and decided to tie on size 10 Elk Hair, It didn't take long to get results.

Pleasantly I discovered that the fish smacking the caddis weren't Rocks, but Smallies in the 6-10" range. For around 45 minutes, the fish were consistently taking bugs, and I was taking fish. Given the size of the fish, the fly being chucked, and the hookup rate, I couldn't help but be reminded of days fishing on the Grand River, mucking about with the stockers.

While I did see a rise that was produced by a better fish, I never did touch anything over 10". Wasn't disappointed though. It was a lot of fun and a break from my standard popper/streamer routine. I look forward to the next time I can catch this sort of action..............though in the meantime I'll be given some thought to tying a up a caddis that will suit my purposes a bit more.