Caucci comparadun fly patterns book

The comparadun fly was a godsend when it came on the scene. Both caucci and nastasi cite frances betters haystack, dating from the late. Since the black tips must be very very short and even on size 1820 comparadun hair and this hair is extremely rare, i never use my small fly comparadun hair for larger flies. Hayes book refers to the reverse fly in the context of the dun, but christie is tying it as an emerger. With a wing of fine black tipped deer hair riding vertically straight up they cast an excellent mayfly silhouette, float well and best of all they are easy to tie. For example, i have size 1416 comparadun, and size 1820 comparadun hair. We can thank the fran betters for creating the basics for this style of tying and al caucci and bob nastasi getting it out to the masses. Both caucci and nastasi cite frances betters haystack, dating from the late 1930s, as their influence. Chosen by trout unlimited as one of the most important flyfishing books of the past thirtyfive years, hatches ii remains the most complete book on the subject of mayflies and their identification.

The original comparadun was created in the 1960s by famed tier and angler al caucci. Hundreds of photos depict the genera and species of the mayfly in all stages of its development, and the authors provide critical information on. The flies consisted of a deer hair tail, deer hair post splayed 180 degrees, and dubbing behind and in front of the wing post, to keep it upright and create a thorax. Al caucci is creator of the famous comparadun and also developer of the comparafly series of patterns with bob nastasi. In the smokies, we are mainly fishing faster, choppier water and often choose bushier, more heavily hackled dry fly patterns because they float well. Paflyfish upper d tiny bluewinged olive pseudocloeon. Launched to the world in the 1970s by al caucci and bob nastasi, and popularized in their book comparahatch, these flies have gained a huge following and wide acceptance from what was to start with possibly a skeptical angling public. Chosen by trout unlimited as one of the most important flyfishing books of the past thrityfive years, hatches ii remains the most complete book on the subject of mayflies and their. Fly tyingadams comparadunthe deadliest flies with chris. For more information on selecting deer hair, check out the sparkle dun fly pattern page. It supplanted the no hackle because it was easier to tie properly and it retained its visibility while floating much better on the rougher waters i usually fished like the truckee. Al is the author along with bob nastasi of five fly fishing books. Chosen by trout unlimited as one of the most important flyfishing books of the past. Flyfishing can often be confusing to newcomers because flyfishers seem to talk and write in a strange, unknown language.

Page 3 of 3 revisit the hackle gauge posted in the fly tying bench. Al is creator of the famous comparadun and developer of the comparafly series of patterns with bob nastasi. The fly was a pattern i found in randall kaufmanns book tying dry flies. Its cauccis spectrumized rabbit dubbinga mixture of the primary colors redblueyellow and white, blended in various ratios to achieve certain big matching colors. Al caucci and bob nastasi introduced a variation of the haystack called, the comparadun, in 1972 from their book, comparahatch. Use a size 14 for the cornuta, sizes 1620 for the attenuata, and sizes 1622 for the lata, deficiens, and depressa. Comparadun i use microfibetts for tails and cauccinastasi pale olive dubbing for the body. In fact, the comparadun style of tying, with variations, remains one of the most. Youre by now thinking comparadun, and the comparadun described by al caucci and bob nastasi was based on the haystack, and they credit fran for this in their book hatches. The progression of the fly continued when al caucci developed the comparadun mayfly in the early 1960s as a variant to the classic haystack fly pattern. Essentially, the fly is a comparadun with a zlon tail that represents the shuck. The fly was a pattern i found in randall kaufmanns book tying dry. Al caucci and bob nastasi, authors of hatches and hatches ii, to be of mink guard hairs, or.

Al caucci and ed natasi introduced the comparadun, a variation of the haystack, in their 1972 book, comparahatch. This particular variation is for the hendrickson mayfly but can do double duty for. Al caucci and was introduced in his seminal book hatches cowritten. The comparadun can be altered in color and size to cover just about any mayfly hatch. In fact, the comparadun style of tying, with variations, remains one of the most important. They just didnt look like the flies we had all been using, where.

Over the decades, an array of fly patterns have received the label classic, and the history of flyfishing in fifty flies by ian whitelaw gives you much of the background of how these patterns came to be. Comparaduns represent a departure from the standard dry fly pattern formula due to the absence of a hackle collar. The morris emerger is tied commercially by the solitude fly company in several variations and a bunch of sizes. I am hoping to follow this up with future blog entries to cover the bugs as the season progresses, skwalas, pmds etc. The fly fishing traditions blog is sort of my masters thesis in fly fishing.

Blue winged olives part 1 north eastern fly fishing. In that kind of water, trout dont get much time to study the fly and their view tends to be distorted by those choppy currents, so the bushier flies tend to do the trick. The ratios are designed to match the bugs when wet. Al caucci developed the comparadun mayfly in the early 1960s as a. Al is a legendary hatchmatcher, and ive learned a great deal from his previous books. Al caucci and bob nastasi are coauthors of three other flyfishing books. Here youll learn about the circumstances that lead innovative fly tyers to coin patterns such as the royal coachman, goldribbed hares ear nymph, matuka streamer, and 46 others. Al caucci is the author with bob nastasi of five flyfishing books. The comparadun is a style of fly and can be used to imitate many mayflies, including pale morning duns, blue wing olives, and green drakes. Vice president al caucci al caucci has been an international name in the fly fishing world since his milestone book, hatches.

This blog entry, patterns blue wing olives baetis is my attempt to cover the fly patterns portion of the equation. Catskill fly fishing museum hall of fame member, al caucci, has a new book. Due the wing structure, the same pattern often works for. Described by skip morris in his book the art of tying the dry fly as the most popular dry flies in the usa or words to that effect. Both books are excellent mayfly references and should be in all serious fly fishermen for trout book collections. I presented the original skips promise to fly fishers through my little book the salmonfly, guide to the dream hatch of the west. Comparadun and also developer of the comparafly series of patterns with bob nastasi. When tying these flies, only use dryflyquality cock hackle, except where noted.

The compardun is an essential low profile, no hackle dry fly pattern that was developed by al caucci and bob nastasi. Caucci joined with bob nastasi and introduced the fly in 1972 in their first book comparahatch. Compara dun flies were made popular by al caucci and bob nastasi, where they wrote magazine articles and books on the subject. This fly is featured in my new book guide flies check it out on the bookshop page. Although the fly looks quite simple, tying it can be frustrating. This is cauccis first book since the untimely passing of his friend and longtime coauthor bob nastasi. The comparadun patterns started a revolution of fly tying, thanks to caucci. The fly is highly influenced by fran betters haystack, which is mentioned in caucci and nastasis book hatches. The comparadun my favorite dry fly pattern and fish this. These days most of us only flair the hair on the top side of the fly, giving almost exactly the same profile as the comparadun but with the addition of a slightly spun collarthorax of hair butts which both aid floatation and i suspect do a good job of imitating the thoracic thickening on real mayflies. This highriding pattern that rides flush in the film is a timetested dry fly that should take a place in everyones fly box. Comparadun the comparadun patterns started a revolution of fly tying, thanks to caucci and nastasi and their comparhatch publications. Patterns blue wing olives baetis fly fishing traditions.

They created the comparadun pattern, a hackleless dry fly in the early 1970s that sent the. Anglers were introduced to the pattern in the 1973 book comparahatch, which caucci wrote with bob nastasi. He set that fly up to have more body in the water, riding level and deeper, and it worked. Florida sportsmans fishing bassmaster book walleye dvd classic patterns dvd precision trolling ultimate bass fishing library bass fishing classic patterns bass pros catfish dvd bass strategies bass tactics booksfishing book fishing booksfishing book muskie dvd fisch fang fishing floating guide book florida sportsmans roderick haigbrown trout by charles joseph bates florida sportsman the. Back then in the 70s, genetic dry fly hackle was a thing of the future, and it was hard to get quality dry fly hackle. However, a more durable nohackle fly is the comparadun, described by al caucci and bob nastasi in. Together, caucci and nastasi revolutionized fly fishing with their comparadun fly patterns and their books hatches and hatches ii. Al caucci developed the comparadun mayfly in the early 1960s as a variant to the classic haystack fly pattern. Florida sportsmans fishing bassmaster book walleye dvd classic patterns dvd precision trolling ultimate bass fishing library bass fishing classic patterns bass pros catfish dvd bass strategies bass tactics booksfishing book fishing booksfishing book muskie dvd fisch fang fishing floating guide book florida sportsmans roderick haigbrown. After reading cauccis hatches ii, ive followed the step by step tying. Recently, field and stream magazine honored hatches ii as one of the best 25 fishing books ever printed. Fundamentally, the klinkhamer special represents a mayfly emerger. Paflyfish a fly fishing community for trout and bass with stream reports, forum, maps, hatch charts and blog covering pennsylvania, new jersey, new york, maryland and ohio paflyfish upper d tiny bluewinged olive pseudocloeon patterns forums fly tying. This style of tying a mayfly was introduced by al caucci and bob nastasi in their book hatches, first published in 1975.

It consisted of a deer hair wing and tail and no hackle, allowing for a lower riding fly with a much more realistic profile. This got me thinking about the angle of the tail on a reverse fly, and the angle you might want the fly to float at if you wanted a dry fly, rather than an emerger. Ever since, the lowriding mayfly imitation has been. Al cauccis biography al caucci fly fishing al cauccis biography al caucci al caucci was inducted into the fly fishing hall of fame in october 2006 at the catskill flyfishing museum and has been an international name in the fly fishing world since his milestone book hatches was presented in the field and stream book of the month club as the may 1975 selection. March brown comparadun with video don bastian wet flies. The comparadun style mayfly is one of the most effective and versitile mayfly patterns that exist today for picky surface feeding trout.

Kaufmann presented the comparadun along with a sparkle dun. The fly is highly versatile, since the color of the body can be changed to match a variety of mayflies. To help take some of the confusion out of the terms bandied about by fly fishers we have compiled this glossary. After a few years of that book being in circulation you couldnt fish with a guide on the upper delaware river without speaking latin. Al caucci also came up with some very good fly patterns, mainly the comparadun fly. Revisit the hackle gauge page 3 the fly tying bench.

They developed an entire fly tying system, which revolutionized the way trout flies are tied and fished today. I was poking a little fun in swishers direction due to his claim on his site that hes invented just about everything worth knowing including the comparadun in fly fishing since. Cornuta apple green, attenuata, cornutella dark green, lata, deficiens, depress. They created the comparadun pattern, a hackleless dry fly in the early 1970s that sent the traditional hackled catskill style of flies on a downward slide in popularity and basically took over my fly boxes. He set that fly up to have more body in the water, riding level and deeper, and it. In the 1930s, fran betters developed the haystack to fool trout in slow moving spring creeks. About wiflyfisher a wisconsin fly fishing guy john simonson. The original comparadun design was an early favorite nontraditional imitative dry fly for matching the hatch.

The comparadun my favorite dry fly pattern and fish this weekend. The fitzmaurice is not listed in mary orvis marburys favorite flies and their histories, 1892, but as you can see it is on the 1893 orvis display, and it will be among more than 200 additional 19th century fly patterns, beyond the 291 in marburys book, that will be listed by name with the accurate recipe, determined by visual inspection. That is a terrific book by the way, and you will learn myriad tricks from. Ever since, the lowriding mayfly imitation has been a staple in fly fishers boxes. Tying a hendrickson comparadun midcurrent fly fishing. Al is ownerdirector of the nationally acclaimed al caucci fly fishing schools for the past twenty years and coowner of the delaware river club fly fishing resort. That said, i have done much better with craigs pattern everywhere from spring creeks to rivers bwos on the rogue good reference book is fly patterns of yellowstone by craig mathews and john juracek. Simply the best place to go for online fly fishing and fly tying. No longer limited to halfordian and catskill ties, fly anglers opened a pandoras box of new ways to tie dry flies. For me its a quest of learning about the entomology, the fly patterns to match the hatch and the necessary techniques to play the game effectively. Preceding the comparadun perhaps, or contemporaneous, are the nohackle patterns of doug swisher and carl richards, as seen in their book, selective trout, 1971.