# Color of Flies



## Layne Kubota (Aug 1, 2014)

What dictates the color of flies, such as a caddis?

I've seen caddis tied in olive, tan, black, gray, etc. Does it just depend on the area, or is it more of a seasonal/timing of a hatch that dictates what an actual caddis fly will be colored?


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Subspecies and season it seems to me. There are several variety of caddis that are reflected in different sizes and colors. It seems to me that as temperatures get hotter, the bugs gets larger in size and lighter in color - both with caddis and mayflies. And then as the temperatures cool towards fall, the bugs get smaller and colors get darker.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Gary is probably right--different species and the time of year they hatch. The late Gary LaFontaine wrote about color in his book, "The Dry Fly: New Angles." In chapter ten titled, "The Theory of Attraction" he discuses not only color, but brightness. While I'm big on silhouette as one of the most important features of a fly (especially larger flies), I have been subscribing to LaFontaine's theory of color as it pertains to ambient light. In a nutshell, LaFontaine theorized that flies become more effective if the color matched or was close to the color of the ambient light. So, in the summer when the ambient light is reflecting mostly green from foliage, patterns with shades of green seem to work better. In the Fall, as the sun angle (in the West) creates yellow, orange, and red, as well as the foliage changing to these colors, it seems patterns with these colors become more effective. On cloudy, gloomy, dark days, black, gray, and brown patterns seem to work better.

Anyway, it's all theory and should be taken as such. I love to fish patterns with yellow, orange, and red in them in the Fall season.


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