Crunchy-housefly

Chruścik - a house-dweller.

by Kuba Chruszczewski

        The larvae of some of the numerous species of caddisflies are able to build themselves a shelter. For this they use hollow sticks, or glue together bits of material available at the place of residence. Some of them attach the house permanently to the bottom of the body of water. Others, meanwhile, build a structure with which they can move. Fish feeding on such larvae often devour them along with these houses. Hence, in the digestive tracts of trout and grayling grains of sand and gravel, sometimes tiny shells.
Let's try to make this popular and effective lure, called "case caddis" in English, among our fly fishermen it usually functions as a "cottage lure".




   1. I place ceramic beads inside a clear heat-shrink tube.

   2. I weld the tube and trim it. This gives me the head and the first two segments of the larva's body.

   3. I tie the body to the hook with an extended shank using thread.

   4. I cut six rays from the tail feathers or wing feathers (here I used the tail feathers of a golden pheasant). I tie them to the hook on both sides of the body. Tied this way, the barbs effectively mimic the insect’s legs, which end in characteristic "claws.".

   5. I wrap coils of lead tinsel around the hook shank.

   6. You can make a model of a house out of various materials. Here, I used colorful chenille, which does a good job of imitating a house made of small pebbles and sand.

 7. I wind the chenille toward the tip and secure it with tight wraps of clear thread. I cover the knot with tape.

  8. Finished "house-shaped" items.

The text and photos are from *Wiadomości Wędkarskie*, where the author has been publishing his articles for many years.