I’ve toyed with realistic flies for a while. I have tied some real beauties, by my eye, some of my own design, and others from recipes in books or on the net. What really counts is what seen from the fish’s eye, and I’m sad to say, they haven’t been too impressed. One exception is the wiggle nymph, which has shown some promise with its unique movement. IMO stiff legged stiff bodied reproductions don’t move like the naturals in the water. In fact, some realistic flies spin or turn upside down in the water if not tied properly. What looks good in the vise may not work well in the water.
I’ve had more success with a more impressionistic approach utilizing materials that have more lifelike movement in the water - soft hackle for legs, spiky dubbing for gills, marabou or ostrich for movement, etc. IMO, realistic patterns should incorporate those materials to be effective.
Some realistic patterns can take a half hour or more to tie, and are only as effective, or not even as effective, as many general impressionistic patterns that are easy to tie. I believe the perfect fly should imitate nothing in particular yet have qualities that many insects exhibit. For instance, I fish a lot with a bead head hares ear. It can represent a caddis larva, pupa, mayfly nymph, etc. Not an exact copy of any insect, yet it has appearance and qualities of many. A wooly bugger can look and move like a large nymph, a minnow, a leech, etc. It is another universal fly.
Think of all the spinning and bait casting lures that catch fish. Almost none are very realistic, but because of action, movement or flash, they catch fish. Now think of the rubber hellgrammite made for spinning rods years back – it was formed to make a near perfect imitation the real thing, yet didn’t catch fish, at least for me.
It’s fun tying and experimenting with super realistic flies. They are more likely to end up in a shadow box than on your tippet. Show and tell some of your realistic flies. I would be interested in your experiences on the water. As I mentioned earlier, the only semi-realistic fly that I spend time tying is a wiggle nymph, because of its unique movement. It catches fish in tough situations where most other flies fail. Good luck.
