Are New Fly Patterns Just Renditions of Older Patterns?
Are new fly patterns just renditions of older patterns?
Yes. I mean pretty much right? When Ken Morrish invented the Morrish Hopper it was new and awesome BUT… it is a foam hopper. We’re not inventing new insects so in some capacity we are mimicking something that’s already been mimicked. There are patterns that are more closely mimicked than others. Take the Crust Nymph for example, you show that to almost any smart angler and they are going to say, “Nice pheasant tail.” But isn’t that what makes flies cool. When you can turn around and go, “There is no pheasant tail on this fly… at all.” Pheasant tail is too bulky? Probably not but in my brain it is. The wing case is synthetic and doesn’t fall apart, the emerging wings are CDC and look translucent in the water. The body is upside down turkey biot and looks buggy and it’s protected with copper wire. The UV enhanced ice dub in UV Brown just seems to catch fish on every fly I put it on. To me this fly is a world away from a pheasant tail. And… you don’t have to fish it if you don’t like it because there are 200 other patterns that some tier came up with and thinks theirs is better too.
The intruder, that’s a pretty new concept. The hooks not attached to the shank. You tie a streamer meant to be swung on a hook shank and tie some type of wire out the back with a loop where your hook is. What’s great though is although this was designed by a bunch of steelhead bums on the west coast even they call it a “platform.” If you disagree listen to him say it for himself on April Vokey’s Anchored Podcast with Jerry French. You tie any number of “stages” on to the shank of the hook, it can even be a single stage and it is on the intruder platform. However, the creativity and differences that you can apply to the “intruder platform” are endless. Even Ed Ward and Jerry French who invented the platform would agree that a lot of creativity and new flies have come from their “idea.
Remember in the early 2000’s when the JJ Special got popular? What is a JJ Special? It’s a cone head wooly bugger; BUT it is brown and yellow in color, it has grizzly hackle, it has yellow legs, often times it’s known to have schlappen on the collar, and flash. No one calls it a wooly bugger with yellow and brown marabou, brown chenille, rubber legs, wire, and flash. Then there was the Yellow Yummy, same thing, but all yellow. Then there was the Big Horn Bugger, same thing as a JJ but with dumbbell eyes. That’s fun.
Is the San Juan worm an exception? Even I have a hard time with people naming San Juan worm variations. Here’s the deal though, I can definitely say that the wire worm is not a San Juan worm and certainly tends to work better in some situations. The disco worm is definitely in my shameless worm box along with the micro worm, fire bead worm, two tone worms, pink lighting worm, and who doesn’t love Joel Silverman, and when brown trout eat Silverman’s Eggs and Bacon on a muddy day on the Big Hole? Lighten up people, it’s just fishing, and it’s fun to call a fly eggs and bacon.
We dial our flies into what we think works better, what we have confidence in, or to be specific for the rivers we are fishing. It makes fly tying and fly fishing fun. Can you get away carrying just 2 patterns, and does it make you a better angler because you are the minimalist and “it’s all I need?” Sure if you think that’s cool for you. That’s just not for me, and don’t judge me because I don’t find as much fun in that. I like having 75 variations of a mayfly nymph in my box because if they aren’t eating, I have 74 more attempts before I have to go home.
All I ask is the next time you are the grumpy experienced angler, and some kid in a flat bill that found your spot on his iPhone app shows you his latest streamer pattern, and you write it off as a glorified wooly bugger just don’t cringe and roll your eyes; Trade him. You will make his/her day.
