Gary LaFontaine

Gary LaFontaine was a well-known fly fisherman and author. 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.

Early life

Growing up in Connecticut Gary LaFontaine caught his first fish at age eight using a fly. At age 15 he published his first fishing article. In 1963 he attended the University of Montana 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 where Gary worked as a guard at the Montana State Prison. He later took up a post in the children's ward at the historic Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, Montana.

Publishing

He worked with Stan and Glenda Bradshaw to form 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 by .