We had the opportunity to speak with Darryl Mooney, Sales Director of Fishing Matters, about one of his favourite patterns from a notable American fly angler, fly tyer and author, who had sadly passed in January 2002, Gary LaFontaine.
Darryl will be attending our Autumn Open Weekend, September 26th-28th! He will be on our Infamous Fly Tyers Row where you'll be able to ask him questions about this fly, as well the array of other patterns he'll be showcasing on the weekend!
I have long been a fan of the noted American author, fly tyer and fly fisherman, Gary La Fontaine who sadly passed away in January 2002.
Gary left an incredible legacy behind him, particularly his major study of Caddis flies or as we know them Sedges.
I love to fish several of his patterns, a good deal of which are visually very different to anything else I’ve ever seen.
A pattern that really caught my eye which definitely fits into this category and which I've been using for more than 30 years now with really great success is his Sparkle Emergent Pupa tied to imitate a hatching or emerging sedge.
Gary wrote the following in his book CaddisFlies first published in 1981;
"When a caddis pupa emerges, it fills a transparent sheath around its body with air bubbles. These globules of air shimmer and sparkle as they reflect sunlight, creating a highly visible triggering characteristic. This sparkle is the key to imitating the emergent caddisflies"
And so, he set about creating a pattern that would include this triggering characteristic. It was difficult as the fly-tying materials that were around in the early seventies when he started out on this journey were in his opinion inadequate. He finally solved the conundrum by use of a then new material by DuPont , a trilobal nylon branded as Antron which was developed for both the knitting and carpet manufacturing markets. Antron is now very widely available in the fly tying market, however getting the fly tied both properly to Gary’s instructions and neatly requires a few ‘’tricks of the trade’’.
I have often wondered why in my time in the fly tying and angling trade, I’ve never seen anyone tie this pattern in their demo’s, well, I will be very happy to share my tricks and tips to getting a neat tie, my favourite colour combinations and of course how best to fish this pattern at next weekends Glasgow Angling Open Weekend. Come along and say hello.
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