Big Puterbaugh Caddis

With the recent snow storm hitting Western PA, I found myself daydreaming of rising trout. Cutthroat trout of Montana and Wyoming. Hoppers would work in the late summer, but caddis seems to be key out west.

The Puterbaugh pattern has been a favorite all across the county for matching caddis hatches.  Size and color can be changed for the different hatches.  Size 10 is pretty big but will no doubt work on lightly pressured trout throughout the summer.  The Puterbaugh floats well and is very durable, due to the usage of foam.  Know it's time to whip them up in a variety of sizes and colors.  I'm also thinking this pattern will be good in pink and yellow.

The Puterbaugh pattern

They are also stupid easy to tie.

beer

Copper Wire

My grandfather was an electrician and avid fly fisherman. He is also a WWII Veteran, so that puts him in the area of the American Great Depression. His stories thus range from eating saltine crackers with butter to the Battle of the Bulge to that big trout that got away.

The other weekend I was telling him about my upcoming summer plans of Montana. He gave me a big thumbs up and some advice. Telling me to do it now before life takes hold. He took the cross country drive several times in his life. Trailering a popup camper, two kids and a wife, along with fishing tackle. Spinning gear produced so many cutthroat from Yellowstone Lake that he has giving them out to fellow campers.

As I started running down the list of flies that I was beginning to tie he stopped me at Copper Johns, stating he had spools of copper wire in his garage. I had recently purchase UTC wire in size large at about $2.50. When I started turning out flies it was easy to see that I needed more wire. So I took my grandfather up on his offer.

The bulk wire was not a shiny (something I like) and might have a slightly larger diameter.

In my eyes it is a major score. Changing the other features of the fly (legs, wingcase, thorax, tail, etc) while using this wire as the body will allow for several different patterns.





Can you tell the difference? I don't think the trout will mind.

Also, it feels pretty good to tie with some of grandpap's materials...

beer