Tying The Emergent Sparkle Pupa

Gary Lafontaine left a legacy in the fly fishing world when he departed way too early from this earth. It did not matter what project, fly, or idea he worked on, it was always done Gary's way; thinking outside the box with every detail accounted for and a method to the madness. There is one fly pattern that he created that could be considered his masterpiece, the fly that replaced every other caddis pattern past, present, and future; The Emergent Sparkle Pupa.

This is an easy fly to tie but there is one key element to it that Gary preached, and that was tying it sparse so it held the air bubbles just like the natural had when emerging to the surface. It's also the translucency of the fly that pulls reluctant fish off the bottom to consume on this sparkling creation. There are some basic color combos to this fly like yellow underbody/brown overbody, bright green/brown, ginger/tan, dark gray/gray, and orange/brown. Don't be afraid to experiment. I tied a combo of an amber underbody with a clear antron overbody and cleaned house on the Madison River in Montana around the West Fork area.

My two favorite ways of fishing the Emergent Sparkle Pupa is to cast down and across current and swinging it into pods of rising fish, or greasing the entire fly and feeding it with a fly first drift to individual fish down technical feeding lanes. Even fished poorly this fly catches more trout than any other caddis pattern and that alone may explain its popularity with fly anglers.

RECIPE:
Hook: Tiemco 100 or standard dry fly hook #6-20.
Underbody: Finely chopped sparkle blend touch dubbed.
Overbody: Sparkle yarn/Antron.
Wing: Deer hair.
Head: dubbed fur or marabou fibers.