"Willi" wrote in message
...

Where I'm coming from in this discussion is that I think that
most beginners should pay more attention to and work harder at better
presentation rather than worrying about having the "right" fly. In
stream and river trout fishing it is VERY unusual when the fish are more
selective than having a fly that is close to the "right" size. Having a
generic Mayfly and Caddis dry and a soft hackle and a nymph in a range
of sizes, IMO is close enough for 99% of the situations you'll
get into IF the fly is presented correctly. What I think a beginner
would be better off doing rather than frequently changing flies is to
concentrate on different ways and better ways of presenting the flies
he's using. (IMO, traditional dead drift tactics are over emphasized and
boring) Willi

I have to agree about the presentation, but I think most beginners will
blame it on the fly if they're not catching anything. I'm sure a lot of us
here have been victims of this in our early stages of fly-fishing. It isn't
until after one becomes more experienced, familiar to read waters, working
on presentation, observing and emulating our mentors, that we start to
developed our skills as an angler.

When I hit the casting ponds, the majority of the anglers work on long
distance casting, I guess they feel the longer they can cast the better
fly-fisherman they are. There is only a few of us who work on our rollcast
and presentation techniques.
-tom