Antron

[afishinado]

 

[lestrout]

Yo afish - I knew the great Gary LaFontaine when he was still in Connecticut, and eagerly followed his progress with his research into duplicating the shimmer of emerging caddis. His early writings were in local newspaper format outdoor sports issues, and he hit the big time in one of the first Fly Fisherman magazines in '69. His imitation then was a variation of a British fly, the Silver Sedge. Since Mylar didn't exist at the time, the best he could do to get the shimmer was with silver tinsel as the body. That was before Gink and silicone gel floatants too, so the heavyish fly was a lousy floater.

Antron and trilobal fibers, especially with hydrophobic surface treatments, do a great job of creating that shimmer with the myriad of tiny air bubbles that attach to the fibers.

BTW, not to be pedantic, but the term "translucence" here doesn't quite capture what Gary was after. A lot of people misuse the word , confusing it with "transparency". Think of the difference between frosted and ordinary clear glass. The opposite of both is opacity, and it is true that many living bugs are more translucent than opaque (except for hairless ants, beetles and the like). But the silvery shimmer is more what Antron will produce, while there are lots of dubbings and feathers that are at least a little translucent. Another attribute of the shimmery microbubbles vs only translucence is the appearance of movement as the fly bobs along.