Crotalus wrote:
I must be some kind of freak, i love tying dries and terrestrials.
that makes two of us, but not so much on the terrestrials anymore. I've tied some cool hopper patterns, but they are time consuming. I learned to tie dries first. but I can't say they are easier ti tie. I just prefer tying them.
Now that being said, I tie specific patterns, like parachutes rather than upright divided wings. I tie more generic hoppers out of foam rather some of the more complicated styles.
The one that I really struggle with is the Elk Hair Caddis, if i could tie that dang wing in consistently I would love tying them too.
Here is where we differ. I find the elk hair caddis easier to tie. Same with the Royal" paterns. i prefer tying trudes to coachman. The difficult dries for me are
Spinners, Comparaduns, and Split wings. My comparaduns never look right and get messed up in the fly box.
For hoppers I sometimes get complicated. Time consuming, but I get to express my artistic side.;-) bluegills love them.
A tip on caddis. Years ago I learned something on here from a guy who doesn't hang around anymore (jeff f). I tie some of my caddis patterns with wool for the wing (instead of elk hair).
I was skeptical, but I fished with him one time and I was convinced. Much easier to tie too. I was fishing over a couple rising fish on Penns, with no luck other than I didn't put the fish down. Then jeff (he never used caps) came along and I told him to give it a try to see if he had any luck. First or second cast and it was fish on. We were using the same color flies, but his had wool wing. He gave me a couple of flies, and I ended up catching a few. That guy can fish, and he was big time into nymph fishing. His wife was a pretty good angler too (and a sharp looking former gymnast). She even caught more than me that day. My excuse is that it was the first time i ever fished that crick.;-)
He ended up mailing a box of dyed wool in various colors to me. A lifetime supply. I'm not sure what he did with the sheep.;-) Oh yea, tie them without hackle too, making them even easier to tie. They ride deeper in the film.
I still use elk hair variety too, maybe even more so than the wool. But some days the wool just works better. The wool wing version must better resemble an emerging caddis or something. I don't know.
Maybe I shouldn't have offered up that secret. Oh well.
. It's a one material fly (2 if you rib it), and it's incredibly simple. 
