Spotted Sedge Adult

The Spotted Sedge is a net spinning caddisfly which hatches late in the afternoon or evening all season long in the West. It is indeed, the most common caddisfly found in the West and may be the most important caddisfly in existence. It may only be rivaled by its sister caddisfly the Cinnamon Sedges of the East. Together the Cinnamon Sedges and the Spotted Sedges comprise about 70% of the total caddisfly population.

They are important because of the length of the hatch time and because of their giant populations. At times, the Western streams appear to be covered with the Spotted Sedges.

The egg laying activity usually does not occur until after sunset or when it is almost dark. Indeed it is possible to fish with the Spotted Sedge imitation well after some other hatches have stopped.
 
The larvae really don't have any protection from being eaten by trout. They hang 
out in little shelters but trout can eat them shelters and all. Much of the time they
are suspended on a silk line extended from near their shelters feeding. Trout eat them in all three of these stages of their life: the larva, the pupa and the adult. We at Troutprostore stock all three imitations.

After the Spotted Sedge pupa changes to a full grown adult and the wings are dried out, it will immediately depart the water. It appears that the trout prefer the easier to catch pupae over the adults, but they simply do not get to them in time so the trout will hit the full grown adults before they depart the water.

After the hatch, the adult will fly off to the streamside foliage where they will mate. After mating, the females will dive to the bottom and deposit their eggs, or dip down to the surface to deposit them. In many cases, the hatch is still underway simultaneously with the females starting to deposit their eggs. When the results with the pupae imitation slows down, that is the time to switch to the adult dry fly. You should be able to observe the splashy rise as the trout feed on the egg layers on the surface.