Thanks mostly to Sandy ( Pittendrigh ), I've become much more aware of the importance of texture in fly tying lately. In the overall scheme of things, I guess I would add it to my priorities which are size, silhouette, action, texture, and color, in that order of importance.

Some recent experiences fishing with a couple of flies that seem to me to have the best texture of any that I have designed, tied, and fished, just reinforce to me what Sandy has been saying.

First, the "straight pin" salmonflies are mostly soft materials, foam, antron, rubber legs, and deer hair, surrounding a 3/4 inch "spine" on which the fly is tied. For the time I was fishing those flies, probably the most pronounced effect was how the fishies would frequently take them several feet down without spitting them out, and often only gave the fly up when it was pulled away from them.



Second, the FEB drake I have been fishing the past couple weeks is tied on a very small hook ( 2X short size 14 ) and the rest of it is pretty much fluff, as in antron, moose body hair, dubbing, and hackle.



While the drake pattern has been really attractive to the trouts, as in it has been fished over an interesting variety of water with really good results and I have yet to see a refusal of this fly, the most remarkable thing about it is the hooking to landing ratio, which is 90% plus.

The solid hooking and landing ratios suggest to me that the fishies are willing to keep chomping on the fly because the texture is agreeable to them, allowing plenty of time to get a good hook up. Another, although less frequent indicator of the effect of the texture of the fly, is that more fish take it deeper than most other flies I fish.

Just something to keep in mind when you go about tying flies, at least for trout in moving water. The less hard stuff and the more soft stuff the better, or so it seems to me ( and, I think, without speaking for him, Sandy ).

John