I have often heard the name caddis fly cast among fly fishermen and other reel spinners. Fly fisherman often refer to different flies they like to use in different situations to entice the trout as caddis fly number this, caddis fly number that? Not being a fly fisherman, I was never sure what any of those mentioned flies looked like.
One day my wife and I were sitting in our brook at camp trying to keep cool on one of those hot, muggy July days. While sitting in the cooling brook water my wife noticed a small piece of debris, maybe an inch or so long, moving along the brook’s gravel bed. As she watched it she started to see another and then another. It was at this time she mentioned that these little pieces of bark or whatever, where actually moving under their own propulsion.
Being the inquisitive one of the two of us she reached down into the water and picked one up. She began gently prying the pieces of bark and twigs apart with her fingers. To our amazement when she opened it up there was the larvae of some type of insect.
We both started searching the brook bottom even closer at this point and realized there were many of these small wooden cocoons everywhere, attached to roots and rocks, each one containing a single larvae. Fascinated by our new discovery, we went back up to the camp and got out some reading material we had. We discovered that we had the larvae of the caddis fly we had so often heard about.
I have put together a series of four photos showing what the larval stage of the caddis fly looks like, including one with the larvae poking his head out of the cocoon being held by my wife.
There are many kinds and sizes of caddis flies which explains the different numbers that fly fishermen refer too. After hatching, the larvae begin gathering small pieces of debris passing by in the brook and constructing a strong, wood-like case around themselves. They then attach themselves to boulders and whatever while waiting to develop into an adult fly to begin their life cycle all over again.
Next time you are at your favorite brook, take your time and begin to study the world that is beneath the water.
