Caddisflies (Hardcover)

by Gary LaFontaine (Author)
Key Phrases: outrigger method, brown marabou strands, caddisfly fauna, Sparkle Yarn, North America, Dancing Caddis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Hailed as a classic almost as soon as it came out in the early 1980s, this combination of entomology and fly-fishing instruction puts a small insect--the caddis fly--under the microscope to help anglers get big results on the water. Misunderstood for years, LaFontaine explains why caddis should be an important part of any fly-fisher's arsenal of flies, and his arguments are very persuasive. With in-depth and anecdote-punctuated discussions of the insect's biology and life cycle, tactics for deciding at what stage in the life cycle caddis are being fed upon (nymph, emerger, or dun), and various methods of presenting imitations, the author provides a thorough and scientific approach to catching fish. Caddisflies is analytical fly-fishing instruction at its best.

Product Description
"Throughout fly-fishing history," says the author in his introduction to this important book, caddisflies have been treated as if they were less important than mayflies. They have been the drab sisters, disparaged or ignored, in the literature. On the stream they have been a puzzle that anglers have chosen to neglect..."

But, as Caddisflies points out dramatically, this aquatic insect is of the highest importance to fly fishermen at various times - and the errors of the past have now been corrected. This book is a major study of this immensely important and often misunderstood trout-stream insect - and it was sorely needed.

The book - which is the fruit of ten years of intensive study - introduces new, tested, and better patterns that impressionistically and effectively imitate the live insect. Then it presents detailed instructions on how best to fish larval, pupal, and adult flies - strategies, tactics, and proven techniques. There is careful study of the indicators that signal either emergence or egg-laying and there is instruction on the different ways fish feed on each stage. Finally, there is a truly comprehensive fly-fisherman's entomology - clear and thorough - of the important caddisfly species, with emergence tables and distribution charts for representative and major trout streams in various part of North America.

Caddisflies thus fills a major gap in the fly-fishing literature. Its publication coincides with the great but scattered attention this insect has been receiving throughout the world - and the book promises to become the standard in its field and essential for all serious fly fishermen.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press (April 28, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941130983
• ISBN-13: 978-0941130981
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #154,970 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest angling entomology ever written., June 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Caddisflies

I'm sitting here looking at the fly fishing books in my collection. If I had to pick out the one that has helped me catch the most trout, it would be Caddisflies. This book, since its publication in the early 1980's, has changed the way people fly fish. Before it came out, caddisflies were a mystery. This is the most important insect on our trout streams, but fly fishermen were using the wrong flies and the wrong tactics -- and, to raise the frustration level even higher, they knew little about the basic life cycle. Start just with the flies. The Sparkle Pupa series were the first patterns to use Antron (a DuPont tri-lobal fiber) and they mimicked the bright air carried by the emerging insect. These are miracle flies. They'll catch trout after trout, at times when every other patterns fail completely. Caddisflies is a "dual" book. A wonderful fly fishing book, but also a great scientific work. It is quoted by professional entomologists in their papers. It is a basic volume that all anglers should read. By the way, my opinion is widely shared. Robert Berls, in his 1989 article in Trout Magazine listing the best fly fishing books of the last thirty years, included Caddisflies and called it the greatest angling entomology of all time.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detail, detail, detail! No substitute for this book!, October 26, 2002

By	Former Rater (Nowhere) - See all my reviews

Gary LaFontaine died this year. A great shame...but he has left behind a body of work that enriches us all.

This book is where it started: and this is how a skillful observer of nature put his scientific skill to practical application.

Caddis may well be the major trout food (heresy - cry the mayfly lovers) but Mr. LaFontaine has the primary research and the citations to scientific publications to back up his position.

The definitive study of Caddisflies. I've owned it for years. . .and two years ago I was repeatedly skunked by a massive evening hatch of black micro-caddis on a lake in Oregon.

I happened to mention the problem to a guide this last spring. Sure enough, he sent me two sample black micro-caddis (#28) and the page reference from Gary's masterwork where the ANSWER was found. I felt like a fool - I had the answer all along!

Of course, the Emergent Sparkle Pupa, the deep pupa and the use of Antron are brilliant answers to emerging Caddis hatches. They are explained here clearly and they are easy ties - and killing patterns--of Gary's invention.

This is a REFERENCE work as well as a fine how-to book. It has a place in every fiy fisher's library.

Buy the book. Gary LaFontaine can still change the world.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING., March 5, 2001

By A Customer

This book is for anyone who wants to understand better why certain patterns work one day and not the next. For all of those died in the wool dry fly fisherman, read this book and you will start fishing below the surface, where most of a trout's diet is taken. This is as much a scientific work as it is a manual on how to take more fish more often. The only negative aspect of this book is that it focuses on the caddis fly (although Mayflies are mentioned). A similar work on Mayflies is needed. All in all though, this is the "Bible" that should be on all of our shelves.