Many people mistakenly believe the X Caddis is a pattern invented by Craig Mathews and John Juracek. Instead, Craig’s wife, Jackie, devised the idea and tied the first pattern for Craig and John while working on something to imitate an emerging and impaired caddisfly stuck in its pupal shuck. “Why not tie one like your sparkle dun for imitating emerging mayflies using a trailing shuck?” she asked. The guys used the fly with great success for the hard-to-catch rainbows in the Henry’s Fork. As Craig put it, the fly was “killing that day,” and the rest—as they say—is history. Since then, it’s proven effective anywhere mayflies or caddis emerge from the water, and, like so many excellent patterns, it’s deceptively simple. It has a trailing Zelon shuck, a dubbed abdomen, and a deer-hair wing tied in the Elk Hair Caddis style.
This summer, I’ve used the X Caddis as an emerger for nearly every hatch—caddis or mayfly—and it has been “killing,” as Craig might say. Give the trout what they want, I say.
