What is a Flymph?

[Soft-hackle]

Scott,
While flymphs work well during the stage where insects are hatching, they can be most effective and useful at other times as well. Just like almost all wingless wets, they are very versatile, and that's part of their appeal.

Mark

[RnF]

Scott,
While flymphs work well during the stage where insects are hatching, they can be most effective and useful at other times as well. Just like almost all wingless wets, they are very versatile, and that's part of their appeal.

Mark

Very true Mark.

[Soft-hackle]

I think my answer about what a flymph is needs some clarification (based on a post I've read in the "Fishing Cabin " area). First, I don't believe Pete Hidy, who originally coined the term, FLYMPH, was creating a new fly or line of flies. The flies had already been created by James Leisenring and a long line of predecessors. What Hidy did was to create a new term/name to call attention to the flies and to help delineate them from winged wet flies. While these flies were extremely effective in imitating an insect that was not yet fully developed or in a transitional stage, they were just as effective in imitating other stages as well. What I believe Hidy did was repackage and already existing product, adding some of his own traits to them. thus continuing the line. If dressed and fished properly, each of the wingless wet fly types (flymph, spider, & soft-hackle) can pretty much be fished in the same manners or using the same techniques. (Jim, if you like to add anything or comments, please do.)

I hope this clarifies it all.

Mark

[DNicolson]

You actually asked several different questions there, I shall answer 2 of them.
1 The word Spider is often used to refer to the type of soft hackle used in the UK,
it originally meant a technique of winding a hackle round a fly , at its head,
so that the fibres radiated around the fly. Nothing to do with ARACHNIDS.
2 A Water Cricket is the name given to a particular and rather obscure, type of Spider mentioned
in a book by Pritt[19th c] on North Country [North of England] flies.
3 Bloa is a northern English dialect word for a grayish colour, as described.
There is an equivalent Scottish word, Blae, you will come across as well.
It means the same as Bloa, some nitpickers will try to say there is a difference, codswallop,
that is from someone who grew up speaking one of those dialects.
Hope this helps. You might find my web site of some use.