A couple weeks ago, I met and fished with a guy from Pennsylvania who told me that LaFontaine's fly "The Mess" was one of his go-to patterns. I remembered reading about that pattern a number of years ago in one of LaFontaine's books, but never tied or used it myself, as I thought it was a bit "out there".

A day or so after I first met that guy from PA, he fished Depuy's spring creek for a day. Afterwards, I saw him, and asked how he did fishing there. He said The Mess was one of his most successful flies that day, and accounted for his best fish.

John