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I fished the upper Kinnickinnic River last night. The temps were in the low 70s. The only hatch was a spinner fall of tiny blue winged olives, which were size #26, and not enough of them falling to raise many fish. So, I put on my "adams," my prospecting fly, which is Chuck Stranahan's Caddis Variant. I fished for only a half hour and caught eight browns. Not surprising, considering the attraction this fly has for trout. The Caddis Variant is tied on a Tiemco 921, a short-shanked dry fly hook. Dai-Riki and Targus makes versions of it, too. The hackle--grizzly died a ginger color--is one size larger than the hook size and wound at the front of the fly, catskill style. The wing is splayed deer hair; the body is a strand of wound and twisted antron yarn, made to look like a fat quill body. I tie a dark and light version of the fly, using a yellow or brown body. One could tie it in tan and olive, of course. But the colors I use work so well that I don't need any other variations. I discovered the Caddis Variant from Jack Dennis's book, "Tying Flies With Jack Dennis and Friends." I learned to tie the fat antron body from the website, "Charlie's Fly Box," which has a great tutorial on tying the fly (But in the sizes I tie, I use just one hackle). I love this fly. It floats high. It's easy to see. And it raises far more fish for me than the elk hair caddis ever did. It mimics the real proportions of a caddis fly, which has a body half the length of it's wing. The grizzly hackle gives it the look of a fluttering caddis; and the fat body looks like that of the real bug. Check out the caddis variant by clicking onto Charlie's Fly Box at: www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=8 I've seen some Caddis Variants that were commercially available. But they were tied with the wrong proportions. Chuck Stranahan, the fly's originator has a fly shop that sells the originals. I believe it's called "Chuck Stranahan's Flies and Guides." Check it out.