Caddisflies

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Scientific Name

Match	Scientific Name
	Trichoptera

Some anglers consider caddisflies to be even more important than mayflies, and on many rivers they're right. Angler-entomologists focus less energy on them because they are slightly less prone to cause a feeding frenzy among the trout. While that does happen, they are more commonly an intermittent food source during the times when it seems like nothing's hatching. Understanding their life cycle is of paramount importance to any fly fisher, but learning their quirks species-by-species is less useful than with mayflies.

This common name refers to only one order.

Insect Order Trichoptera

These are pretty much always called Caddisflies.

Some say caddisflies are even more important than mayflies, and they are probably right. The angling world has taken a while to come to terms with this blasphemy. Caddis imitations are close to receiving their fare share of time on the end of the tippet, but too many anglers still assume all caddisflies are pretty much the same.

Caddis species actually provide as much incentive to learn their specifics as the mayflies do. There is just as much variety in their emergence and egg-laying behaviors, and as many patterns and techniques are needed to match them. Anglers are hampered only by the relative lack of information about caddisfly behavior and identification.

Dicosmoecus gilvipes (October Caddis) Caddisfly Nymph

View 3 Pictures

Collected October 5, 2010 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on June 27, 2011

Rhyacophila fuscula (Green Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

View 11 Pictures

Collected April 1, 2007 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 3, 2007

Brachycentrus (Grannoms) Caddisfly Pupa

View 10 PicturesThe green blob contained in this case is a pupa in the early stages of transformation from larva to the final stage we generally picture and imitate. This specimen and several like it were fixed to a rock I picked up, and each one had the front of its case sealed off, protecting the helpless pupa from predation. It's neat to see the insect part-way through such a radical transformation.

It was very hard to extract this thing from its case, so there's a bit of extra goo near the head from where I accidentally punctured it.

Collected April 14, 2007 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 22, 2007

Neophylax (Autumn Mottled Sedges) Caddisfly Adult

View 20 PicturesThis large caddisfly looks really neat close-up.

Collected September 19, 2006 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on October 4, 2006

See 124 more specimens...

Jargon Defined:

Emergence: The transformation of a nymph or pupa into the adult winged stage of an insect. The term may refer to the emergence of an individual, or the daily or yearly event in which all individuals of a species emerge.

Larva: Many classes of aquatic insects, such as caddisflies, midges, craneflies, dobsonflies, alderflies, and many more, are known as "larvae" rather than "nymphs" in their juvenile stages. They have mostly soft bodies rather than hard exoskeletons. These insects also advance through a "pupa" stage before reaching adulthood.

Pupa: Any insect which spends most of its juvenile lifetime as a larva first becomes a pupa for a time before emerging as a fully grown adult. Depending on the species, the pupal form can be very important for fly fishermen to imitate.