From: Ken Fortenberry

A hopper is constructed of fur and feathers and is fished like
a fly. An egg pattern, no matter how constructed, is fished
exactly the same way you would fish an actual egg plucked straight
out of the jar.

Not that using an egg pattern is "cheating" (where
legal), it's perfectly acceptable for those who want to fish
that way, but it is more like bait fishing than fly fishing and
some fly fishermen, me included, eschew it.

Below the surface, trout feed on a number of creatures...the larval and pupal
forms of aquatic insects, aquatic worms, small fish, and fish eggs. Most of the
above, when properly fished, are fished in the same manner as bait. Here in MA,
in late April, I'll often be fishing a Hendrickson nymph, dead drift, bouncing
off the bottom in anticipation of the impending hatch. A couple of weeks later,
I'll be fishing sucker egg imitations in the same place, and in the same
manner. No difference, IMO.

If the distinction is the construction of the "fly", my midge larva imitations
would likely be considered less of a fly than my egg imitations.

It's strictly a personal choice, not "cheating" at all (where legal).

Agreed, but I don't know of any water in the Northeast where a Glo-Bug or
similar imitation would be illegal. The "glue gun" or bead type eggs might be
considered a lure, but not a fly, under some definitions.



George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller