Improved Thanksgiving Caddis
First designed as a “one-material pattern” for Don Ordes’ One-Material Swap 2005. The abdomen was tied from the turkey tail’s cinnamon tip and the thorax from the black part below.
Some good tips for tying:
*Do not wrap the “undercase” overly tight. A little easier wrap helps the spun herl to flare. *Make the loop long rather than short. Using tweezers, I place the herls into the loop one-by-one by the hanging twister’s hook and slide them up to the fly. A long loop helps holding them in place, close to eachother and perpendicular to the thread. *Don’t make too much chenille at a time. I use to make a length of about 2-2.5 cm’s, twist and wrap… then untwist the loop and repeat. A tiniest tap on the thread when the loop is unspun can make every herl end up on the table… so control your damage before it’s already done. *Put your pride aside and dig up your tackiest wax. Big and stiff turkey herls weren’t made for this purpose.