Oh the Elk Hair Caddis

The blue copper john is my go-to pattern on the Upper Stanislaus. In fact there are days I use nothing else because there is no need. Today I had none in my box and with finger-length trout eating surface flies, I decided on a caddis despite not being much of a dry-fly fisher. I don't know why it is I rarely fish dry flies. It could be that Alaska calls for streamers and wet patterns and I simply haven't diversified my casting in California.  So I'm glad today happened, because you need days like today to figure out what kind of fisherman you are.I worked the caddis hard and diligently and caught just as many fish as I ever had with my blue copper john. Only a few of the fish were hefty, but those little ones that you think would be pushovers make you work and punish you for lazy drifts and poor casts.