Great comments, Silver. I agree with you, although old practices are difficult to change. I tend to use horizontal "cripple" patterns for two reasons: They seem to work well and, for me, it is easier to see them. For mayflies, I usually use the Sparkle Dun as I think it well represents a mayfly having a hard time breaking through the shuck and, thus, has the trailing shuck.
For Caddis emergers, I like to use a soft hackle and either let it lay in the film/surface, or use the down and across method and allow it to swing towards the surface.
For Mayfly "cripples" I will also often use a soft hackle to represent a mayfly cripple and do a bunch of quick false casts to dry it and then let it float by a fish holding position.
I admit that I am sort of set in my ways and have had better luck with these two styles of addressing transitional insect imitations than using the more vertical patterns......which I have tried and not had as much success with.........
We are all different in our approaches to fly fishing........
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