Craig Mathews' X Caddis Fly
- Designed by West Yellowstone legend Craig Mathews
- An evolution of the elk hair caddis that sits lower in the water
- Antron tailing shuck imitates the shell left behind the emergent caddis pupa
The X-Caddis comes from West Yellowstone legends Craig and Jackie Mathews as well as John Juracek of Blue Ribbon Flies. This pattern was specifically designed to be a more realistic and lower profile version of Al Troth's Elk Hair caddis. This fly was developed in the 1980's and the testing grounds was the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho.
Craig is the guy who brought us the Sparkle Dun and a host of other effective patterns, trademarked by their simplicity. However, Jackie Mathew's, Craig wife, had the idea to use the antron material from the Sparkle Dun and apply it to the tailing shuck that made the X Caddis legendary.
The X Caddis represents an adult caddis fly and the tailing shuck can represent a number of things such as a crippled caddis or a recently emerged caddis pupa.