Zac, the hooks really are 3399s, and I'll try to figure out what I can do to photograph them in a more accurate way. They are bronze, and pretty dark. You can tell the true color by looking at the hook right where the body ends. I think maybe the rest of the bend is in shadow, perhaps that's why it looks black. I'll try to get that corrected with future pictures. I do use black hooks for the salmon flies.

It's funny, but in Europe they don't seem quite as fickle as we Americans are where old flies are concerned. Alice Conba's #1 selling fly to this day in Ireland is the Greenwell's Glory. Not only have we forsaken many very effective old patterns over here, but we've practically ruled out an entire genre of flies, winged wets, which are incredibly useful. If you think about it, a Prince Nymph, which all will agree is a great pattern, especially for rainbows, is really nothing more than a winged wet fly. Because it's deemed to be a nymph, we still buy it.

Reed, I too have always wanted to logically explain the effectiveness of the Royal Coachman, which I've seen for myself. I finally decided that it was taken as an ant, and was stunned to find recently that Theodore Gordon thought the same thing way back when. I'm looking forward to reading your ideas about the Royal Coachman. I've always been a match the hatch imitationist, but have to concede there are many many flies which don't appear to match any hatch but catch fish like crazy. It sounds as if you've got some solid scientific explanations at last. I look forward to the book.