I have found after 13 years of fly tying that the simpler the fly pattern, the fewer the steps required, the smaller the list of materials needed, the more that I catch fish. Less is more, in my book, that is why I am so enraptured with Soft Hackle Wet Flies. It don’t matter the color of the hackle or the color of the thread for the body, you can add ribbing if you want or even some dubbing for a thorax. It don’t matter, they all will catch fish.
I have done so called Czech Nymphs, and you do not need to know how to weave, it is just a nymph pattern on a grub hook, where the abdomen and thorax are slimmed down with a hot spot between the abdomen and thorax. and a scud back strip across the top.
For Bass I like Spun Deer Hair patterns, I use the Belly Hair, it cheaper and the white belly when dyed takes on the true color without the dark brown of other part of the deer.
Foam is a fly tiers best friend when doing floating flies for terrestrial patterns.
Do not get hung-up on what type of hook to use, if you think it will work use it. Most of my bass flies are on salmon hooks.
As I can see by the various posts, we all tie flies, simple or complicated, for a plethora of reasons. It could have something to do with the stars aligning in a certain way! All I know is I enjoy tying flies just for the sake of tying and would continue to tie flies even if I never fished another day. It’s almost like painting. Just because your walls are covered by your paintings, do you have to quit painting? I tie 2 component flies and 10 component flies and fish them all. Fly tying for me is definitely not just about the fishing. If the fish don’t like my flies - TOUGH - they will just have to get over it! LOL!!! One thing I will say - If I am going to spend the time and money to travel a long distance to fish a once in a lifetime location, I am going to ensure that my flies are the best that I can tie and tied on the best hook I can afford. You can also look at it this way: one persons disaster could be another persons go-to fly. How many times have you tied a fly that was the picture of perfection - fished it - the rattier it got the more the fish liked it. With my luck, if I tied a fly to look that ratty from the start, not one fish would touch it! LOL!!! Go figger!!
I think most of you guys are right on. Some tiers, like you and I, will try to be creative and add some feature or material to an existing recipe in an attempt to be creative moreso than to make the lure look more realistic. Just the other evening I noted a regular wet trout fly video by a famous tier use nine different materials on a # 12 hook. This is absurd. It would seem that the further back you go in history, the more simple the recipes. The fish have not changed. The fish food items have not changed. It’ s only that we tiers have gone off the deep end.
Honestly the tying is still left up to the tyer. The tyer decides while at the vise what kind of fly does he want it to be, meaning simple fishing fly that works great. Perhaps a more complicated pattern that the tyer wants to try and tye and or fish with. Then maybe the tyers is into life like and goes that route. Now what is wrong with all that was just mentioned, NOTHING. I am a classic winged wet fly tyer and my patterns range from simple to very complex. I love to tye wet flies and fish them. Even the complicated wet flies are fun to tye and fish with. Yes more complicated flies do present a challange and require more time to tye. This does not bother nor concern me if I want to tye a Silver Doctor or or a Duraham Ranger to fish with. I tye to fish and more important I tye to my likings. I believe there is notheing better than fishing with a well tyed fly that looks like a work of art that catches fish. There is no right or wrong answer to this issue. It all boils down to what the tyer feels like doing.
Many, if not most of the “Irish” salmon flies were/are extremely ornate and time consuming to tie. Many with materials from the four corners of the globe! Dee & Spey flies, much less so. Today, we have developed many hairwing style flies to simplify the tying process of those older patterns. One reason, I’m sure being the availability of the materials. As with any new patterns/techniques you and only you can can decide how much or how little effort or money you want to put into this hobby. I know that there are some new patterns that do not appeal to me at all, and some that incorporate materials that I don’t have and have no intension of getting or will just substitute another material if I like the pattern/style and want to fish it. I also know there are going to be (original pattern) flies I like, but can’t tie, because the tier used the nose hairs from Fluffy the cat for the tail of the fly, and now Fluffy doesn’t want to cooperate any more! LOL!!! It’s all good!!