EP Caddis - An Independant Review

Emails come and go but every now and then one has a bit of a story to tell as this one does, from a young Melbourne fly tying flyficker who loves the sport as much as I do. Read his story, it may be of interest to you.

The EP Long Horn Granite Caddis Tied & Designed by Mick Hall

You can call me a cynic, especially when something new in fly tying comes around but if it is recommended by Mick Hall then it is worth a second look. To start with, the colours lend themselves to most of the flies I tie and if they are not exact then I can mix them.

This wasn’t the case when I tied Mick Hall’s “long horned granite caddis”, the colour available in EP Trigger Point International Fibre was spot on. I tied up a couple for my next visit to the Rubicon river but mother nature dealt us a severe blow and I put my fly fishing on hold in that area for a while.

Left: Enrico Puglisi Trigger Point Dark Dun winging material

The little flies stayed in my fly box until I had the opportunity to travel to Austria where I decided to sneak one in my travel fly fishing box. Too accompany this fly were the standard deer/elk hair caddis ties that I favoured at the time as well as some mayflies and various dries.

It was pouring upon arriving at our destination, the Murzz River. There was no hatch so I tied on a deer hair caddis going on my local companion’s advice. With only one trout landed, I decided to change to the mayfly pattern. This got a little more attention but the flies were only lasting a couple of trout each before being destroyed, it was time to rummage through the fly box. I tied on the long horned caddis out of curiosity, I could always go back to the mayfly pattern if it was did not catch fish.

What happened next was nothing short of amazing. I caught trout after trout on this fly. A couple of false casts and it floated as new, it held its shape and appearance all day long. Best of all, towards the end of the day polaroided another trout that took this fly. To my delight, it turned out to be my first grayling. I then repeated this a minute later with the next fish I polaroided and happily landed another grayling.

The Granite Caddis from the Goulburn River in Victoria Australia

This was a really robust little fly with the wing giving the exact grey mottled appearance of the real insect, furthermore it lasted over four hours and was pounded by more than twenty fish, rainbow trout, brown trout and grayling.

I’ve gone from cynic to converted and can’t wait to tie more flies with EP Trigger Point International Fibres.

Ben Le Vagueresse

Sunbury Victoria

Australia

Footnote: Thank you Ben. You can read the full story of the Granite Caddis and more on Kossiedun.com.au