Greg,

Thank you for that.

That describes my approach to fly tying perfectly.

I own several dozen 'pattern books', most from the last fifty years. They list thousands of 'patterns'. EVERY ONE of those patterns have caught fish for someone at some point in time.

So, if you are tying flies to copy someone else's work for the sake of doing that, then that's one approach and it's as valid as any other. If you are tying flies to excercise your own creativity, that's another equally valid approach. If you are trying to tie a fly that will catch fish and you need to use what you have on hand to tie a fly, that's another valid, and probably very common, approach as well.

But the overriding factor is that ALL of the thousands of flies tied and listed in pattern books over the last century caught fish. They were 'created' by people no more or less skilled than many of the folks here. Any fly you come up with by using different materials, experimenting, imagining, just 'seeing if this will work' are just as likely, in fact more likely, to catch fish as any long established pattern is.

You know your own fish, you know your own skills, and you know what materials you have on hand. That's how folks like Gartside, Stevens, Dennis, and all the others came up with the patterns they made up. They were no better than we are. No more skilled or gifted. They just did it and didn't worry about what others thought of their efforts because THEY were satisfied with them.

Tie flies as you want to. There is no 'right way' or 'wrong way' to do this. Have fun and just put 'Stuff' on a hook.

Trust me, the fish won't care.

Good Luck!

Buddy