Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (trouting) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:14:43 GMT

The English author, John Goddard, writes well and spent a lot of time observing trout from under and over the stream (not as much from under as LaFontaine). If you like "Caddisflies" then I think you will like Goddard's books too.

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (retrotrout) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:07:38 GMT

Antron gives lots of sparkle to dubbing. Most fly shops sell it by itself. You can add it, with wonderful results, to practically any fur dubbing: hare's ear, muskrat, you name it. SLF (Synthetic Living Fibre) is a dubbing blend that sparkles. Probably has Antron in it. Hare-line dubbing has a whole series of colors of rabbit plus antron which is terrific for underwater designs. These yarns were developed to add sparkle to carpets, and to make cleaning them easier. I believe that Antron...

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (mmorris236) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:55:19 GMT

I must get a copy of that CD, (my inner geek is shrieking "I want it NOWWWW!!, OK my outer geek is pretty interested too). I have never met nor fished with Gary LaFontaine but discovered a pseudo close connection recently. In an old book on Trout there was a chapter on caddis flies that Gary wrote. The book predated his CaddisFlies, by about 15 years. The opening paragraphs talked about Gary's efforts to recruit a local to collect samples on a trout stream he was fishing because it...

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (16 pmd) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:51:48 GMT

Ralph Cutter of Calif. has recently come out with an excellent DVD, "Bugs of the Underworld" that has lots of underwater footage of insects. Ralph has also spent a lot of time underwater observing insects and fish over many years. He has many fascinating new suggestions for fishing that come from what he saw (and now we can see) underwater.

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (Eric Peper) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:36:56 GMT

Dolfinus wrote:
It is a fun book with lots of observations. To actually study it, it is a slow read. I mean he spent a lot of time scuba diving to come to some of his conclusions. A whole lot of effort. Has anyone else done anything like this? My goal is to try some of his ideas out. Not competitively, but just out of interest.

Jeff

McClane spent a lot of time...

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (Dolfinus) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:39:01 GMT

It is a fun book with lots of observations. To actually study it, it is a slow read. I mean he spent a lot of time scuba diving to come to some of his conclusions. A whole lot of effort. Has anyone else done anything like this? My goal is to try some of his ideas out. Not competitively, but just out of interest.

Jeff

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (16 pmd) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:16:35 GMT

I fished with Gary one time and had a number of conversations with him at other times. His go-to fly seemed to be what he called the ESP - the Emerging Sparkle Pupa. I've always had some of those or something similar in my box and have had great success with them. Some of his other flies, I'm not so sure about. They work on occasion, but no better than other flies. He was a great innovator, and as such, had some successes and some failures. As to the white marker and blackfly...

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (sanspareil) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:13:42 GMT

The white marker trick seems to work, I do not get to fish often enough to really test it out.
Here is the correct marker-
http://thebookmailer.com/...eMarker/whitemarker.html

Mike

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (nativebrownie) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:27:42 GMT

Would any white marker work? Thanks...

NB

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (dry side) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:53:34 GMT

I have been using the white marker for several years, but not for black fly larvae. Mark your tippet with two to four inch-long white marks about one foot above your small and/or dark point fly. Works well and saves you the trouble of a strike indicator.
Richard

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (Hap) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:59:49 GMT

One of Gary's flies was the black fly larva. He used the white marker with this fly, as these larva suspend from rocks in the the stream bed by what looks like white silk. He fished the black fly larva in the Adirondacks and the New England States as these little blood suckers are common to those streams. Google the Book Mailer.com you will find the marker for sale there.

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (Eric Peper) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:16:40 GMT

I fished with Gary many times and worked with him on his books a bit. The Antron/gas bubble thing arises as a point of contention and discussion often on various forums. All I can tell you is that I got one of his very early sparkle pupa flies in the late 70s, and I did a fair amount of experimenting with it. Properly used it is a killer, and the pattern still is to this day. As an aside, a few years after that initial contact, Gary and I were tying in his basement prior to a day of...

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (Lafarge) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:39:50 GMT

Lafontaine's deep pupa and sparkle pupa work very well. You can get the "official" tying material for those caddis imitations at his former internet store, thebookmailer.com. (no relationship, I just made a couple of successful purchases from them.)

Dave

Re: Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (tedgolden) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:16:27 GMT

I fished with Gary (with and without his dog) a number of times. I found him to be one of the most engaging and observant people I have ever fished with. It could, however, be hazardous to one's heath.

As far as Antron goes, I still use it, more or less liberally. In spite of rumors to the contrary, the fish haven't become any wiser since it's use began.

I never saw Gary use a white marker on his his leader, but that may explain why he caught fish about 3X...

Caddisflies.........Lafontaine...

feeds@yuku.com (Dolfinus) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:02:27 GMT

I am currently reading Caddisflies by Gary Lafontaine. It is a very detailed and amazingly fun read. Maybe some of us who post here even had the chance to fish with Mr Lafontaine. I have several questions. First, is the information still pertinent? He describes using Antron, and its special properties to attract fish. Is there anything similiar now used, or perhaps even better? Also, he mentions using a white marker to color the leader white to mimic the silk Caddisflies can produce....