The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
Some anglers consider caddisflies to be even more important than mayflies, and on many rivers they're right. Angler-entomologists focus less energy on them because they are slightly less prone to cause a feeding frenzy among the trout. While that does happen, they are more commonly an intermittent food source during the times when it seems like nothing's hatching. Understanding their life cycle is of paramount importance to any fly fisher, but learning their quirks species-by-species is less useful than with mayflies.
Like most common names,"Caddisfly" can refer to more than one taxon. They're previewed below, along with 3 specimens. For more detail click through to the scientific names.