Light Cahill
Hook: wet fly size 14
Tail: wood duck
Body: red fox underfur
Wing: wood duck
Hackle: hen ginger
Thread: tan or ginger to match
This pattern is credited to Dan Cahill who was a good friend of Hewitt and a rail worker near Port Jervis, NY along the Delaware.
His namesake dry and wet fly patterns were made famous by Gordon, Bergman and many commercial tiers. The pattern divided at some point between “dark” and “light” with many commercial versions tied with cream dubbing and a cream hackle.
The white is much easier for an angler to see both for wet and dry so even if it is a less perfect color imitation it can help.
Wood Duck can be expensive these days buy mallard flank dyed wood duck is a great substitute.
As the old timers say this fly is a “capitol killer” with strikes often very aggressive.
Enjoy!
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