The man behind the BPS Spent Caddis, Dennis Komatsu, passed away in 2012, and he seems to have been a fairly private man who stayed out of the spotlight. However, he was well known for his trout patterns, which California anglers have long prized.
Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions learned about the fly from a friend, who used it to outfish him on their local New Jersey rivers. Aside from being productive, the BPS Spent Caddis is easy to tie, using a couple of neat tricks that Flagler demonstrates; I especially like the technique for locking down the wings.
BPS Spent Caddis
Hook: Standard dry-fly hook (here, a Dai-Riki #300), sizes 14-18.
Thread: Black, 8/0 or 70-denier.
Body: Peacock herl.
Wings: Tan short/fine deer hair or elk hair, cleaned and stacked.
Adhesive: Head cement.
Nice!
Sweet!
Hi Phil, Thanks for sharing this video. Dennis was friend and worked in our shop, Fishermen’s Spot, for many years. He taught many anglers to tie and fish over the years. I wrote the piece on Dan’s site shortly after his passing and we still miss his friendship and leadership. BTW BPS stands for Barbara’s Problem Solver after his wife Barbara, a fine angler in her own right. The fly was developed on the western spring creeks and is one of many great patterns that Dennis developed. Best regards, Ken
Ken, my name is Tim Flagler, I’m producer of and the tier on the video. Thanks so much for commenting and letting everybody know what BPS stands for, I looked just about everywhere and couldn’t find anything. Although as you say, the pattern it was developed for western spring creeks, I can assure you here in the East it works remarkably well. Thanks again for the information.
Tim, I enjoyed your video and was surprised to see this pattern as it is not well known outside our area. It’s deadly on spooky fish in hard fished areas.
Dennis was an amazing tier and a great guy. Thanks for sharing his pattern.
Thanks for the info, Ken. Dennis sounds like a great man.
He was indeed Phil. Thank you for sharing the video.
Another fantastic pattern! Enjoyed noticing the custom “Tightline Productions” package of deer hair!