From: Paul Marriner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [VFB] Re: presentation vs pattern- the great debate rages on...
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 16:39:10 -0400
Don, to keep my blood pressure down and avoid getting thrown off the list, I deep-sixed some early comments. In fact I am a presentationist, believing that good presentation will trump pattern flaws more often than the reverse. However, anyone with experience knows that sometimes pattern is everything. Well almost, as there is obviously a continuum of pattern alterations, from THE one (size, design, colour, material, ad nauseum) that fools every fish, to the one so removed that it's equally universally snubbed. Rarely, if ever, do we have that kind of range with which to experiment. Certain materials may yield a special glint under specific light conditions (wrong material, tough), others may cause a fly to orient itself in the water in an attractive way (you can't tie an effective Booby replacing the foam eyes with lead ones). This is where your comments about pattern/presentation crossover come into play. We've long since passed the point of no return vis a vis pattern names and dressing accuracy. If you tell me you're fishing with a Pheasant Tail, I have no idea until you specify the dressing (and not just the material list) just what you're fishing with. Certain alterations (e.g., bead) affect the presentation, others not at all (dyed olive pheasant tail vs natural).
Are the materials, proportions, and dressing technique an important part of the attraction of a pattern? Think of all the secret patterns that people lusted after, some even sadly went to the grave with their makers.
Sawyer's Killer Bug is a grub or shrimp (sowbug?) imitation. On the chalkstream rivers where it earned fame, Chadwick's 477 may very well have been important to its success. But why not listen to the originator rather than ... (remember your blood pressure Paul!). Sawyer wrote, "Though I have constructed these bugs with many other colours of wool, none have been so effective." Elsewhere, perhaps a different color. My friend John Roberts has written two books on grayling and another 6 on trout and trout flies. You can take it to the bank that he is a true expert. He says, "various beige shades work well." His favourite substitute is dubbed, light tan, Fly-Rite Poly Seal. He also likes adding a copper ball to the head (Don's presentation alteration) and a small partridge hackle which, in my view, makes it a different pattern.
Keith says Lureflash Super Bug yarn works better than Lureflash Killer Bug yarn, but that neither is really close to the 477. If you want to try this very effective fly, first try it with as close a material as you can get. Then experiment with substitutions and judge for yourself. Since Keith has a small amount of the original, perhaps he would have someone take a close-up digital photo of a piece and post it to the VFB site.
One of the things that truly makes my blood boil is to listen to some dolt bad-mouth a pattern when in fact they aren't fishing anything resembling the original (or let alone correctly!). Intelligent experimentation is the road to improvement; but, until you have fished with the original tie (or as close as possible in the case of the Killer Bug), you have no legitimate basis of comparison.
Cheers, Paul http://www.galesendpress.com -- Paul Marriner Outdoor Writing & Photography. Owner: Gale's End Press. Member: OWAA & OWC. Author of Stillwater Fly Fishing: Tools & Tactics, How to Choose & Use Fly-tying Thread, Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal, Ausable River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon.
_________________________________________________________________
Don�t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/
