The Goddard's caddis with clipped hair body work great on fast water over big rocks where higher flotation and visibility is important. It also works well on quieter water, The trout looking up at the surface recognize the silhouetted shape of the clipped Goddard's Caddis as that of the natural caddis. On bright sunny days fishing on water that is reflecting the sunshine it can get difficult keeping track of your fly. Use a White Goddard's Caddis. If the sun goes in try a more natural colored Goddard’s caddis to match the local hatch like this on.
Originally this caddis imitation was called the 'G & H Sedge' (John Goddard & Cliff Henry sedge) and still is in Britain. Sedge is another name for Caddis. It was designed by the fly fishing entomologists Mr John Goddard and Mr Cliff Henry after they had observed and studied the silhouette of caddis flies as they skittered invitingly over the water's surface during the later part of the day. They wound buoyant deerhair onto a hook and then sculptured the material until it matched the insect's wing and body shape. They ended up with a nearly unsinkable fly that when retrieved on the water surface produced a realistic wake. The trout loved it. It was a radical design when it was first published in fly fishing magazines and pattern books.
When the caddis hatch the emergent adult tries to swim as fast as it can to the safety of the bank. In this mad dash for survival it creates a 'V' shaped wake a bit like a small speed boat. The trout are on the look out for this give away sign of fast food on the move and home in on these flies with some spectacular takes. This pattern was designed by Al Troth in Pennsylvania, USA in the 1950's, to imitate the adult caddis in two ways: firstly by copying the shape of the wings and secondly he made sure the blunt stubby wings caused a disturbance on the retrieve, in the water surface that mimics that caused by the scuttering adults. Al Troth used a typical roof wing profile to mimic a whole range of medium to small caddis flies rather than try to imitate a particular species. Al Troth later moved to Montana where he gained fame as a fly tyer and trout guide. His new Elk Hair Caddis Dry flies soon became widely used in the various trout rivers of the Rockie Mountains. It is now used all over the world.
The common or slang term ‘sedge’ originates from the fact that adult Caddis flies can often be found clinging to sedge grass near the waters. Sedge/Caddis flies have four wings. The forward pair are normally a little longer than those at the rear. At rest their wings lie close along the body in an inverted V shape. Caddis flies do not have tails but many have long antenna. The Latin name for this group of flies is ‘Trichoptera’.
