Hi Folks,
I recently read the' The Trout & the Fly' and was interested in their theory surrounding the mirror , the trouts view , the star-burst indentations of feet etc.

The USD Paradun looks a pretty good imitation of a 'small' mayfly , elevating the body off the surface and creating that appetizing 'star-burst' effect.

However i'm not sure how effective that this imitation is for the 'larger' mayfly patterns ,specifically the Greendrake/Ephemera Danica (uk) / ? I tied and trialled a few last year and unfortunately they failed miserably (possibly due to bad tying technique) . There turn over success rate was 10% , and there general float-ability was poor

Question

1) Does the Danica and/or Greendrake Dun's body touch the water surface or not? and therefore is the USD a valid imitation for these drakes?

A variation on the USD theme that I have used for a number of years now is O.Edwards - Blade Wing Mayfly - tied on a K3A Swedish upside-down hook. This for me performed better than the USD Paradun ,inducing alot of rises & slashes however it suffered from one major
Achilles Heel, The hook success rate was frustratingly poor. (even after adjusting the hook bend)

Question
1) Is a large USD hook more of a hindrance than a benefit due to the 'flaw' that I describe?

Any views or experiences would be extremely welcome

Wacker07