LaFontaine's Legacy : The Last Flies from an American Master

by Beatty, Al

• ISBN13: 9781599212753
• ISBN10: 1599212757
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-07-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

Gary LaFontaine became world famous for his innovative trout fly patterns. But his life was cut short when he died of ALS in 2002. His final designs, however, were left in the caring hands of friend, author, and professional tyer Al Beatty, who proceeded to tie and photograph LaFontaine's final set of undocumented patterns to create this book. Here are full-colour photos and instructions on how to tie each of LaFontaine's last designs, showing each step in detail. This is a beautiful book, essential to every fly tyer, that is also a loving tribute to an innovative sportsman.

Author Biography

Al Beatty is the proprietor of BT's Fly Fishing Products, with his wife, Gretchen, in Boise, ID. A frequent contributor to Fly Tyer magazine, Beatty is a recognized authority on trout flies in the fly-fishing and -tying circles of American. His two previous books are Innovative Flies and Techniques and The Federation of Fly Fisher's Fly Pattern Encyclopedia. A close friend of Gary LaFontaine, Beatty was attempting to produce LaFontaine's final film about fly fishing, but LaFontaine died before Beatty was able to finish the project. Yet out of that came the 26 posthumous fly patterns of this book that Beatty has tied and photographed himself. Beatty lives in Boise, ID.  

 

Gary LaFontaine published more than 100 articles on fly fishing in more than a dozen different national and regional publications during his professional fishing and writing career. He authored five books, most famously, Caddisflies, and coauthored many more including Fly Fishing the Yellowstone (with Bob Jacklin) and Fly Fishing the Madison (with Craig Mathews), both Lyons titles. A ceaseless fly tyer who invented numerous patterns, some that bear his name, his patterns became standards of the craft. He died before his time, at age 54, in 2002.

Table of Contents

TOC

Each chapter will have a brief intro to the pattern and then step-by-step tying instructions

Intro, "About this Book" chapter, and closing chapter detailing some of LaFontaine's insights into tying methods also included

Antron Bivisible

BH Deep Sparkle Pupa BH

Marabou Worm BH

Peacock Twist Nymph

Diving Blue-Winged

Olive Egg Layer

Diving Egg-Laying

Midge Drop Nose

Minnow Drowned Trico

Drunken Sailor

Enchanted Prince EZ2C

Caddis EZ2C

Mayfly EZ2C

Midge EZ2C

Stonefly Lady Heather

Double Wing Flex

Damsel Flex

Dragon Flex

Sculpin Floating Flex

Crayfish Fluttering Stone

House Fly Missouri River

Sow Bug Ostrich

Herl Twist Nymph

Pheasant Tail Twist Nymph

Rollover Mysis Shrimp

Variegated Midge Larva

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.