Has anyone tried takeing a somewhat complex pattern to tie (one that regularly catches fish) and start leaving off materials one at a time to arrive at a fly that looks similar that still catches the same. I haven’t tried it myself but thought I’d give it a try.
Heck, if it still catches fish and takes a fraction of the time to tie, why not.
Leo C.
We have gone the other way with some bugs…but then we are not known to be the sharpest bodkin on the bench anyway! 
…lee s.
I think you will find that a lot of people have done this. It is for sure nothing new. Try tying a Hairs Ear without the wing case. Works just as well but is faster. But try and tell that to someone buying flies from you. LOL Ron
One of my first woolly buggers had the hackle break off so I removed it completely and kept on fishing. Worked better. Now I carry both kinds.
Part of the fun of Fly Tying is discovering things for yourself. It doesn’t matter if a thousand other tyers have discovered it too. It is new to you. Keep on experimenting.
Experimenting is a big part of fly tying.
I always like to try various different approaches to a single pattern !!!
Your question is very interesting and logical one. I wonder if you can effectively run those experiments and get any conclusive information due to the variable nature of fishing, the numerous variables affecting your catch rate and the standard deviation in your catch numbers? For example, suppose you fish one day with the complete fly according to the design and you catch 10 fish. Ther next day you try the fly with one part missing and you catch 8 fish. The third day you fish with the fly with 2 parts missing and you catch 15 fish. Can you draw any useful conclusions from this information? Probably not because even though you controlled the number of variables in you fly pattern you could not control the weather, water temperature, river flow rates, food avaialbility, bug hatch rates, and numerous other variables. Thus, it is a very difficult experiement to perform and collect useful data. However, should you not do it? No, I say go for it! That’s what make fishing so challenging and interesting. I would be intersted in the results.
Dr Bob
you could try here [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/alcampbell/archive.html:273d0]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/alcampbell/archive.html[/url:273d0]
Hey Leo,
It matters little if the fly is really
truly better, more efficient, or just easy
to tie. What matters is that you like it
for whatever reason. Fishing after all is
what we do to have fun and if you feel it’s
a better fly than the original, then it is
to you.G Warm regards, Jim
Thanks everyone for your input. I never really gave it much thought as to what Dr Bob writes. I suppose it could be extreamly difficult to obtain any real hard data in a short period of time. I do believe that over a long time frame some fairly accurate data can be compiled.
I’m still interested in hearing examples of flies you have shaved materials from that had an effect one way or the other.
Leo C
as for minimalism, my very 1st bass on a fly was almost 50 yrs ago: on a Black Gnat that was so chewed up by the sunnies that fine spring day that only a shred of black tying thread was left.
Sorta like a midge larva, eh?
tl
les
Bob W - following that progression of 1 missing part produced x fish, 2 omissions produced y fish…
Bob W - ooops (pushed wrong button). Continuing the progression…
hear about the Zen master who deleted ALL the components, including the hook, line and sinker, ,
, and caught an infinite number of fish?
tl
les
Years ago I saw a joke that showed a guy playing a fish and there was no leader from the line to the fish. He was telling another angler " I kept using lighter and lighter sized tippet and now I don’t use any at all" 
As an after thought to your post. I was thinking about it and going in the other direction I feel if you use more than about 5 different materials or steps in tying a fly you are doing so becuase you want to or it just looks good to you. The reason I say this is that in a normal fly there is on avarage of about 4 or 5 steps to tie them. OR materials. I feel that anymore than that and you are adding things that will not make a fly fish any better. But it sure makes it a pain in the butt for a guy to tie that makes a living doing them. Just my opinion. Ron
Oh, one additional thing… the flys that have caught 10+ fish generally have the enamel worn from the bend to point. These flys only seem to get better and one lasted to 30+ before I lost it. By then the hook seemed mirror bright! Guess fish really don’t get bothered by hooks.