Sparkle Pupa (Emergent and Deep)

[scotfly]

It?s been ages since I did a two for one offer! It seemed a shame to do one and not the other of these two, so?
In 1974 the late Gary LaFontaine gave us the sparkle pupa. He devised this pattern after 3 years of research, much of it spent in scuba gear. During his research he discovered that when a caddis fly pupa emerges it fills a transparent sheath around its body with air bubbles. He thought these air bubbles were a highly visible trigger to the trout. He also "discovered" a new synthetic called Antron, a tri-lobal nylon filament developed by DuPont for use in carpets. As the name (Tri-lobal) suggests, the filament is three sided, designed to reflect as much light as possible and make stains less obvious. He discovered that, when combed-out and tied so that it envelopes the body, the material traps air bubbles and reflects light like no material or pattern he had seen. The results of his experiments are the Deep Sparkle Pupa, and the Emergent Sparkle Pupa.
I have demonstrated two colours here. Simply alter the body and/or sheath colours to suit.

Instructions assume right-handed tyers.

The Emergent Sparkle Pupa.

HOOK ? TMC100 #12
THREAD ? Grey Benecchi 8/0
SHEATH ? Brown Sparkle Yarn
BODY ? 50/50 Blend of Brown and Cream Sparkle Yarn
WING ? Deer Hair
HEAD ? Brown Ostrich Herl

STEP 1
Split two plys from the sparkle yarn and comb it to separate the fibres. Do this twice so that you have two strands of combed two ply sparkle yarn.



STEP 2
Tie one strand on top of the hook shank.



Followed by one strand under the hook shank.



STEP 3
Dub the thread with the blended sparkle yarn.



Then wrap to form the body.



STEP 4
Pull one of the strands over the body and tie down with two firm, but not tight wraps. It doesn?t matter which strand you pull over first, here I?ve done the bottom one. When you tie the strands down spread them at the tie down point so that the tied down end covers half the hook shank.



Do the same with the other strand.



Then use your dubbing needle to tease the two strands open a little.



After teasing the two strands tease out  (at the head) a small section of the top sheath and fold back to imitate the trailing shuck.



Then trim the waste and make a few tight wraps to secure everything.



STEP 5
Clean and align the tips of a sparse bunch of deer hair and tie in as a short sparse wing.



STEP 6
Tie in three strands of Ostrich Herl.



Then twist around the thread.



Then wrap to form the head.



Trim the waste,  form a neat head and Whipfinish.



Varnish for the completed fly.




Fish when Sedge are hatching or expected. Treat the wing only so that it fishes emerger style.
Now the ?.


Deep Sparkle Pupa

The tying of this one is pretty much the same as the emergent version, so this is an abridged sbs, refer above for more detailed instructions where necessary.

HOOK ? Niche N530 #12
WEIGHT ? Round Lead Wire.
THREAD ? Grey Benecchi 8/0
SHEATH ? Brown Sparkle Yarn
BODY ? Rhyacophila Green Sparkle Yarn
LEGS ? Coq-de-Leon Hen Hackle Fibres
HEAD ? Brown Ostrich Herl

STEP 1
Wrap part of the hook shank with lead. Number of wraps determined by hook size and speed/depth of water where you fish.



STEP 2
Prepare and tie in the sheath top and bottom.



STEP 3
Dub the thread and wrap to form the body.



STEP 4
Pull the two sheaths over and tie down as before.



STEP 5
Tie in a few hackle fibres to act as legs on the near side.



And the far side.



STEP 6
Tie in the Ostrich Herls and wrap as before to form the head.



Trim waste and Whipfinish.



Varnish for the completed fly.



The two flies side by side.