I always thought that a searching pattern was something that was a pattern that didn't represent a specific creature (i.e. insect, fish, etc) but was suggestive of a number of real "things" or "creatures" (i.e. small black insect, etc). This is different from a pattern that is meant to imitate a specific species of insect. The term searching was to indicate that, because it represented a wide variety of stuff, it was good to use if there wasn't a specific hatch going on.

In contrast, an attractor, was something I thought was not really supposed to represent a living creature, but rather, was something that was flashy and garish, and tried to get a strike out of aggression, or some such.

So, both are good to use when no specific hatch is going on, both can be used to "search" for fish, etc, with the difference (as I thought people used the terms) was in whether or not the pattern was meant to immitate a living thing of some sort.

Also, as with so many things associated with the jargon of fly fishing (or any activity), the terms have subtle differences of meaning depending upon locality.

- Jeff