Dry FliesDouble Whammy
When mayflies and caddis hatch together and trout stop being selective, Hans Weilenmann's Double Whammy is built to cover both. A dark olive Argentinean hare abdomen and deer hair wing give it a general, buggy silhouette, finished with a snowshoe rabbit thorax.
Spring, Summer, Fall
Intermediate
Trout
Feb 2026
Overview
Hans Weilenmann designed the Double Whammy as a generalist pattern for the overlapping mayfly and caddis emergences that flood the water with mixed insect traffic. Rather than matching one species precisely, the dark olive Argentinean hare body and deer hair wing create a profile that reads as either insect, and the snowshoe rabbit thorax adds a soft finish. It's a practical choice from spring through fall on both moving water and stillwaters whenever more than one hatch is coming off at once.
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Materials
- Hook:
- Partridge GRS6A #12
- Thread:
- Benecchi 12/0, tan
- Abdomen:
- Argentinean hare, dark olive
- Wing:
- Deer hair
- Thorax:
- Snowshoe rabbit (aka Snowshoe hare)
Behavior & Presentation
Natural Behavior: Large surface prey like hoppers, beetles, and caddis create substantial profiles that trigger opportunistic feeding. Multiple colors and materials suggest diverse food sources.
Where Trout Eat It: Fish patrol near-surface zones, rising aggressively to substantial prey in feeding lanes.
How to Fish It: Dead drift with the bold profile riding high, or add subtle twitches to suggest struggling insects.
Best Water: Pocket water, bank edges, foam lines, and tail-outs in freestone streams.
Strike Type: Aggressive surface strikes with fish fully committing to the substantial, visible profile.
Fishing Strategy
Rigging Suggestions: Use a 9-12 foot leader tapering to 5X tippet for delicate presentations. Apply floatant to the body and hackle.
Seasonal Timing: Most effective during peak feeding periods at dawn and dusk. Water temperatures between 45-65°F typically produce best results.
Pro Tips: The double-wing configuration provides exceptional visibility for anglers while maintaining natural silhouette for trout. Excellent choice as an indicator fly in dry-dropper rigs due to superior buoyancy and visibility in varied light conditions.
Entomology
When overlapping hatches produce both mayflies and caddisflies simultaneously, adult insects create a dense layer of surface activity with varied movement patterns and silhouettes. Fish capitalize on the abundance, feeding indiscriminately on mixed species that overwhelm their selective instincts during peak dual emergence events.
- Order
- Trichoptera
- Common Name
- Caddisfly
- Organism Type
- insect
- Life Stage
- adult
