Actually it is a variant of the Roman Moser pattern and noy Olly Edwards at all!
One of my problems when tying flies is crowding of the head. I either tie to close to the eye or end up with enough space to park a Discovery so I adapted the SBS from Tango51 to this method of tying the Balloon Headed Caddis.
The use of Peacock Ice Dubbing gives it an added attraction that has worked well for me, not saying that the original version doesn't as it gave me a red letter day to remember!
On with the show -
Materials
Hook - Grip 13021 size 12 Damsel 1x long
Thread - Olive UTC 140 Denier
Butt - Glo Brite No12 Fluo Green fine
Abdomen - Orvis Peacock Ice Dubbing
Wing - Natural Roe Deer
Balloon - 2mm Orange Foam from Wapsi cut into a 4mm strip for this size of hook
On to the vice!
Step 1.
Secure your hook in the vice and run the thread from the eye to the start of the bend in touching turns
Step 2.
Tie in the butt material
Step 3.
Form a slight 'rugby ball' shape and trim off the excess material
Step 4.
Form a dubbing rope with the peacock ice dubbing, does not need to be slim as caddis have a substantial sized abdomen
Step 5.
Form that substantial abdomen and leave some room at the eye end of the hook
Step 6.
Tie in the foam strip as close to the eye as possible and bind this down tightly squashing the tag of foam onto the hook shank
Step 7.
Take a small bunch of deer hair and trim to the length of wing you want. The deer hair I used is of reasonably uniform length and I don't use a stacker to even the tips but if the stuff you have is straggly then use a stacker to even up the tips. Tie this in and bind tightly over the butts while holding the wing section to stop it flaring too much
Step 8.
Now fold over the foam strip and pull tight over the deer hair butt section and tie down tightly to make it balloon. Notice the beautifully clear eye area that makes it easy for blind bats like me to tie it on!
Step 9.
I whip finish the balloon with two sets of 3 turn whip finishes as I do not use varnish on the foam. This gives good enough grip on the foam and holds it together enough to get destroyed by the trout
Step 10.
Slide your scissors along the deer hair to trim the foam as close as possible. Pull out any straggly looking deer hairs for aesthetic purposes - the fish don't mind actually what it looks like when they are sedge feeding as they tail slap it under and return to grab it
And there you have it, the Roman Moser Balloon Caddis Variant from the mad professor.
OE Balloon Headed Caddis Variant
Try using finer thread and you wont have no problems crowding the head!
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