"Sandy Pittendrigh" wrote in message
. ..
http://www.montana-riverboats.com/Pa.../Mayflies.html


FWIW, my experience supports Sandy's Very often, 'different' is best.

Thus, for tough trout on hard fished waters and major, long running hatches
( the PMD is the classic western example) I tie and carry many small
variations on the general themes. This, btw, is NOT tiresome from a tiers
perspective, just the opposite, tie three or four, vary the dubbing color a
little, or shorten the wing profile, or change to a biot body instead of
dubbing etc etc ... far less tedious than producing a boxful of identical
ties.


I also, and I bet you do too Sandy, do a lot of onstream modification.
Grab one wing of a No Hackle and pull it over so it will ride in 'knocked
down' position, pull all the hairs of a Sparkle Dun to one side and maybe
cut off some of them to achieve a similar 'very crippled, wing stuck in
film' look. I've even grasped flies and bent the hook ( side ways, the
opposite plane than a scud hook ) to change the look and give Mr Snottytrout
something he hasn't seen recently ( careful, it is easy to totally ruin a
fly this way, the torque tends to dismantle the whole thing, not just bend
the metal )