Marc Petitjean’s fly fishing genius celebrates his 100‘000th Magic Tool!

 November 2008

In due proportion, if Marc Petitjean were a fine art artist, he would be most probably considered as a new Leonardo  or Picasso for his apparently endless ability to invent and explore. His innovations for the sport of fly fishing have won him an impressive array of awards. As a result you can’t but notice something rare nowadays, that fellow anglers and observers refer to him as a genius and to his creations as magic.

In 1988-89 Mr Petitjean was starting his activity as a professional fly tier and making already 20’000 flies per year after a period of personal initiation consisting of studying, trying, improving and inventing new patterns based exclusively on Cul-De-Canard (CDC) feathers following the then local only Swiss tradition. Remarkably he soon created  a new CDC conical fly which propelled him to the professional arena. This intense tying activity  “gave me plenty of time to think about and study problems I faced as a fly tier and a fisherman”, he says.  During his work, he repeatedly came across two common major problems that  he decided to solve.  The first problem was that he wanted to “…to wind feathers of all types and sizes on hooks shanks of various sizes”,  and secondly  “I also wanted to mix CDC colours or mix materials as I wrapped…” he continues.

This is how he got to develop the Magic Tool, a special, quality clip made in a  see-through material (perplex-glass) for the serious fly tier. Marc Petitjean is one of the lucky inventors who has then witnessed his success over the years . Not without a mix sense of pride and surprise he tells me, how the MT has been selling in a growing number on five continents.  And as a matter of fact, he celebrates this year his 100’000^th Magic Tool produced out of his laboratory! The MT is manufactured nearby where he lives  in the small Swiss, French speaking village of Bottrens, in the Canton of Fribourg, not far from Bern, Switzerland.

The magic tool is  “becoming an indispensable tool to every fly tier”, he tells me adamantly, and after seeing the enthusiastic approval of so many end users of all skill level, it’s easy to agree with him. But it’s not just an impression, the tool really does the job. The first time I saw the MT  in action (I immediately wanted one.  Being a fly tier myself, I immediately recognized that this  is something specifically designed for us in order to save time and get better results.  Sure, I can use a self-made clip, yet I could also use a Swiss army knife to sharpen my pencils and still I would prefer a professionally designed sharpener for the purpose….

The innovations of Mr Petitjean, don’t stop here. Along with his own designed twister,  pliers, vests and beautiful top-range professional vise, Mr Petitjean also developed another, yes, magic tool: the Magic Head which is a soft, silicon-like cup for streamers. The MH is tied on the hook shank quiet close at the hook’s eye and can then be folded either backwards-  and act as a regular streamer -or forward - and so vibrate to attract more fish  as one experiment during its seven years development once demonstrated (Mr. Petitjean had been casting  while an assistant on a high ladder was observing the behavior of the fish in a pond). The Magic Head comes in various patterns and covers both the fresh water and salt water environment for a variety of fish types.

Since small details in fly casting and fly tying can have a major impact on the fishing result, a substantial effort is carried out by Marc Petitjean to train his ever larger customer base either live with his numerous personal exhibition, or by means of videos on DVDs. An attention to detail and a sincere interest in sharing his inventions with the whole world which is also a trademark of Mark Petitjean’s  finesse.  

(Marc Petitjean pictures taken from the PetriNews issue N.144, Nov 2008)

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