Hans,

You raise a good point about 'tradition'. Now I'm asking this because, in the main, this thread has been informative and I guess nearly complete so I don't think I'm hijacking it. Perhaps you might want to start a thread to respond to this since it may bring about a few additional opinions and thoughts.
What is 'tradition'? I mean Joe asked about hook selection in regard to tradition and you responded. Where does it begin? When hooks were made out of stone or bones, when steel was first sed and then when they had no eyes, when they got eyes?
IMHO, the flies described by Berners and illustrated in a few books established the 'traditional' hook and thereafter hooks were 'seveloped' much the same way that you have traditional flies and the same fly tyed with some substitute material or in a slightly altered state. Not saying this dogmatically and I can easily be talked into a change of opinion, LOL.
Any thoughts?
Cheers.
Allan