Name that fly

[Larry L]

I think many of us find the naming of very slight variations on old patterns
with a new name and the implied "new fly" status, irritating. I do.

But, I've decided to add a "my fly box" section to my website .. ( mainly to
kill time ... it's Winter ) ... and I find that many of the patterns I most
use are slight variations on known, named, ones. Often they combine
elements of several old patterns. In some cases a new material is used, one
that works better ... for me. Slight variations, but I believe the
variations are valuable, for my fishing.

So do I make up some cutesy names.. "Millionaire's Pool Knockdown Cripple" ?
Or do I describe, "A Sparkle dun, with the wing tied divided and "half
spent," instead of full, and a biot abdomen."?

I don't believe ANY of "my" patterns are original, I'm sure they have all
"been done before," but in most cases I did combine the parts of ther
patterns, or change materials, entirely on my own, to suit what seemed my
own special needs. So, in that sense, they are the product of my
imagination, and my design, not copies.

Opinions? Guidelines? Again, it's Winter and there is time for wasting on
such questions<G>

[Tim Lysyk]

Larry L wrote:
> So do I make up some cutesy names.. "Millionaire's Pool Knockdown Cripple" ?
> Or do I describe, "A Sparkle dun, with the wing tied divided and "half
> spent," instead of full, and a biot abdomen."?
>
> I don't believe ANY of "my" patterns are original, I'm sure they have all
> "been done before," but in most cases I did combine the parts of ther
> patterns, or change materials, entirely on my own, to suit what seemed my
> own special needs. So, in that sense, they are the product of my
> imagination, and my design, not copies.
>
> Opinions? Guidelines? Again, it's Winter and there is time for wasting on
> such questions<G>

Avoid cutesy names. Try to be reasonably descriptive. For example, there
are a million variants of the elk hair caddis, so if you call something
a "Sparkle wing elk hair caddis", it has some meaning, and indicates
that the fly is a variant of a standard pattern. Also, you can use the
term Variant a lot.

Tim Lysyk

[Tim Lysyk]

Larry L wrote:
> So do I make up some cutesy names.. "Millionaire's Pool Knockdown Cripple" ?
> Or do I describe, "A Sparkle dun, with the wing tied divided and "half
> spent," instead of full, and a biot abdomen."?
>
> I don't believe ANY of "my" patterns are original, I'm sure they have all
> "been done before," but in most cases I did combine the parts of ther
> patterns, or change materials, entirely on my own, to suit what seemed my
> own special needs. So, in that sense, they are the product of my
> imagination, and my design, not copies.
>
> Opinions? Guidelines? Again, it's Winter and there is time for wasting on
> such questions<G>

Avoid cutesy names. Try to be reasonably descriptive. For example, there
are a million variants of the elk hair caddis, so if you call something
a "Sparkle wing elk hair caddis", it has some meaning, and indicates
that the fly is a variant of a standard pattern. Also, you can use the
term Variant a lot.

Tim Lysyk

[George Adams]

Actually, for us oldtimers, the Term "variant" denotes a specific style
of tying, so you'd be better off to pick a name describing how the new
pattern differs from the original, such as "Deer Hair Caddis", "Hi-Viz
Dun", "Sparkle Sulphur", etc, in order to avoid confusion.