Pont-Audemer　 French　 《fly》

　 French dry fly.　The Mole Fly of Surrey, Britain was brought to France and became popular in the Normandy district.　Various patterns based on the Mole Fly were developed there, and this was one of them.

　 Jean-Paul Pequegnot mentioned in his book "French Fishing Flies" (1969) that even now it is a basic fly pattern from May to June in Normandy.　Characteristic features of this fly were a wing inclined at 45 degrees ahead (advanced wing), no tail, and it had a body and front hackle.　It was a vertical fly that floats perpendicular to the water surface, and it floats on a flat hackle.　Because the wing projects above the water surface, it offers good visibility for the angler in addition to the imitation of a mayfly wing.　He described that this fly seems to work as a large-sized mayfly or the emerger of caddis.

　 Mole fly was a common dry fly apart of the exaggerated forward wing, however the Pont-Audemer was a unique fly.　The fly floats perpendicularly and the body sinks underwater.　If this fly is seen from under the water, the hackle will be seen as radiating fibers (legs of a mayfly).　The original tier of the Pont-Audemer could be a person who stood high and had developed many original ideas, however, his or her name is not known.　What gave new life to this pattern was the “Occasion”, a fly shown by Gary LaFontaine.

【Tying Material】

hook: medium size, # 11-13

thread: black

tail: nothing

body: natural raffia or yellow silk

ribbing: tying thread or peacock herl

wing: mallard flank feather, rolled wing, advanced wing

hackle: cock hackle

　

Illustration insertion　

caption: Posture of Pont-Audemer at the water surface.

　

【Reference】French fishing flies, 1985 (1969).　Trout flies (Williams), 1932.

→Mole Fly, vertical fly, advanced wing, Occasion, raffia