Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115757 in Books
• Published on: 1989-04-28
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Amazon.com
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.

From the Back Cover
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. (8 3/4 X 11, 344 pages, color photos, b&w photos, illustrations, diagrams, charts)

Customer Reviews

Get a PhD in Caddis
As LaFontaine states midway through the book, "The study of caddisflies is the graduate school of an angler's education." His book clearly mirrors both the diversity and complexity of its subject matter - caddisflies. LaFontaine mastery of the bug and how to present it to trout in it's varying life stages is apparent. But the crowning achievement in these pages is the bridge LaFontaine builds between this insect's world and the mind of the angler. It's a bridge every angler must eventually cross in order to master the complex interaction between these bugs and feeding trout. I couldn't really come up with the number of days and the river miles you would need to wade in order to gain the knowledge Lafontaine distills onto paper... but a lifetime wouldn't be a stretch here (wearing out many pairs of wading boots along the way).

The writing takes a no-nonsense approach, but you feel his excitement and willingness to share the insight he has gained with the reader. The expression "doing one's homework" comes to mind when reading Caddisflies. Lafontaine spent ten years of intensive study (and of course fly-fishing) to develop the material and support his observations. As he put it: "It was not writing that took so long... The subject, however, proved to be so fascinating that it deserved much more than just a rehash of the past literature or a smattering of untested opinions."

Lafontaine structures the content into two parts: (1) Tying and Fishing Caddisfly Imitations and (2) The Biology of Caddisflies. The first part of the book is likely as comprehensive and authoritative treatment of tying and fishing caddisfly patterns you'll find published today. Even if you don't seat behind the vise tying these flies, the chapters offer as much "why" as they do "how" (i.e., the thinking behind using a particular material, color, shape).

The second half focuses on the biology of these amazing insects with well over 1200 species of caddisflies in North America. Lafontaine highlights a key attribute leading to their bio-diversity today: "Caddisflies basically owe their diversification in the aquatic world to the ability to make silk. This is the evolutionary tactic, a wonderfully functional tool, that has been used in so many ways to solve problems of dislodgement, food gathering, respiration, and protection." A comprehensive listing of each caddisfly genera provides a great reference. To aid the angler, Lafontanie uses the listing to emphasize the species which are more likely to force a trout into selective feeding.

After reading Caddisflies, I'm not ready to claim I've completed the caddis "graduate school of angling." That claim may come after a couple more readings and application on the water. I can say for certain that my appreciation and understanding of caddisflies has gone up dramatically.

Best American fly-fishing book ever written.
Not necessarily the best writing per se, but if you ever wondered: Can a fly-fishing book put forward the synopsis of a novel insight into fly-fishing that does both: (1) helps you catch fish, and concurrently (2) could stand alone as a novel scientific study of trout behavior?

The only book that I have ever read that can answer "yes" is this book.

I would love to hear about other books, maybe Gordon or Hewitt have something out there from the early 1900s (???), but for sure this book is the most original contribution to American fly-fishing in the past 30 years.

The Caddis !!
This is the book to have if you fly fish or ty flies. Thats all that needs to be said!!!