Wes, to properly answer your question (suggestion) one must consider the entire history of fly-fishing, a period exceeding 500 years at least as far as the English language is concerned. With some exceptions (Atlantic salmon & bass flies primarily but not exclusively), the focus for about 450 of those years was the imitation or representation of natural insects to catch trout. About 150 - 200 years ago, the basic confirmation of the dry fly was "set." That is, tail, body, wings, & ruff hackle. Anything afterwards, that followed that conformation (i.e. a Wulff), was merely a material substitution. Downwing flies extend backwards 500 years, so Trudes and EHC styles are material substitutions. Comparadun forms aren't new either, at least one progenitor, the Haystack, is over 70 years old. Parachutes are a "modern" invention, being only 70 or so years old.
At least as far as I can tell, the modern form of the nymph (tail, abdomen, thorax, wingcase, "legs") was created by Skues more than 100 years ago; anything later is a material substitution. One might consider beadheads a modern invention but they are, if all claims are correct, a century old as well. Streamers are often considered an American invention, but they aren't. 300 years ago European anglers were fishing with flies made with whole hackle feather wings. Even the word streamer is questionable, I have a book dated in the mid-1800s from Canada that refers to an "Indian Streamer" pattern that would work quite well today. Bucktails are merely a material substitution. It was in around the mid-20th century that things changed. With the advent of hundreds of synthetic materials, new lines, and the expansion of fly-fishing as a method to include almost anything that swims; new patterns exploded. I wouldn't try and say who was first with what, but the imitations of saltwater baitfish, crabs, shrimp, etc., did take new directions, very diffenent in concept from the trout, salmon, bass heritage. Other historic tidbits: early use of wound marabou (170 years ago), early use of metal propellor on flies (120 years ago), early use of flash material in wings (100 years ago), etc. As an aside, imitations of terrestrials are more than 500 years old. However, when it comes to trout flies, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's likely a duck. At least 80% of the designs you mentioned essentially involve variations on well established forms. So, having rambled on for some time, off the top of my head what do I consider to be ten true innovations in fly-tying methods? They are listed below in no particular order, and to my knowledge few if any can be attributed 100% to an individual. 1. spinning deer hair on the hook so that one can shape a body. 2. the use of a tube, rather than a hook, on which to mount materials. 3. parachute hackle 4. winding of a hackle (likely predated first English-language writing, likely 600 years or more). 5. woven hair hackles - never really caught on but was certainly unique. 6. crocheted or woven bodies 7. combination of plastic (resins) and natural materials; Wulff's Surface Stonefly is an example (not the first) - this led into the epoxy revolution. 8. extended bodies 9. fur strip wings (150 years old) - this is a close call 10. altering the shape of the hook to achieve certain affects, e.g., the keel hook Have a go with this list to see what you might add. Cheers, Paul -- Paul Marriner Outdoor Writing & Photography. Member OWAA & OWC. Author of Stillwater Fly Fishing - Tools & Tactics (CD), Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal, Ausable River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon.
