Originally Posted by
Silver Creek
Fact 1. Trout take emergers more often that true duns.
Ergo, surface footprint is not as important as fishing the correct stage of the hatch.
Fact 2. Trout have really poor vision compared to humans. We have 14 times the visual acuity of trout.
Ergo, surface footprint is not as important to them as it is to us because we can see more detail than they can.
Fact 3. Footprint is only element of what a trout sees not so well. Size and Shape are certainly more important most of the time.
Ergo, footprint is important only when the overall shape and size of the fly are equal between the two patterns.
Personally, I think footprint is way down the list in terms of fly selection.