Gary LaFontaine (May 12, 1945 – January 4, 2002) was a well-known

fly fisherman Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. His books include ''Caddisflies'', ''The Dry Fly: New Angles'', ''Fly Fishing the Mountain Lakes'', and ''Trout Flies: Proven Patterns''. He died of

Lou Gehrig's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

Early life

Growing up in Connecticut Gary LaFontaine caught his first fish at age eight using a

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

. At age 15 he published his first fishing article. In 1963 he attended the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

majoring in Behavioral Psychology. Gary and his wife Ardyce returned to Connecticut where she worked with mentally disabled children. They moved in 1973 to

Deer Lodge, Montana Deer Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Powell County, Montana, Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,938 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Description The city is perhaps best known as the home of t ...

where Gary worked as a guard at the

Montana State Prison The Montana State Prison is a men's correctional facility of the Montana Department of Corrections in unincorporated Powell County, Montana, about west of Deer Lodge. The current facility was constructed between 1974 and 1979 in response to the ...

. He later took up a post in the children's ward at the historic

Montana State Hospital Montana State Hospital is located in Warm Springs, Montana, just off of I-90 near Anaconda, Montana. The hospital is the only publicly operated psychiatric hospital in the state. It was founded by the territorial government in 1877. The hospital ...

Warm Springs, Montana Warm Springs is an unincorporated community in Deer Lodge County, Montana, United States. The town can be accessed via exit 201 on Interstate 90. The post office opened in 1871. Description The community is the site of Montana State Hospital, ...

Publishing

He worked with Stan and Glenda Bradshaw to for
Greycliff publishing
and a mail-order business called Book Mailer.

Illness

His wife Ardyce died in 1994 from a long debilitating illness. It wasn't long until news that he had ALS spread throughout the flyfishing world. By 2000 he required the use of a wheelchair, but was still a prominent figure, attending conventions like the ''Federation of Flyfishers''.

Awards

It was in 1990 that he won the Arnold Gingrich Memorial Award for Lifetime Writing Achievements, after which he continued writing for another ten years. He was awarded Angler of the Year in 1996 b
Fly, Rod and Reel magazine

Bibliography

''Challenge of the Trout'' was his first book that was published in 1976 (no longer in print). His second book ''Caddisflies'' gained him national recognition in 1981. The next book he published was ''The Dry Fly: New Angles'' in 1990. Then ''Trout Flies: Proven Patterns'' in 1993 and then ''Flyfishing Mountain Lakes'' in 1996.http://www.thebookmailer.com/Gary/HallofFame/HallofFame.html

Notes

1945 births 2002 deaths American fishers Angling writers People from Deer Lodge, Montana {{Fishing-stub