I find the history of flies so interesting. I suspect that when these earlier flies were invented by fishermen, the originators did not have any idea how popular they would be. I think there was not the attention given to naming or, god forbid, patenting a fly pattern as is sometimes done these days.
Sometimes confusion takes over and it is simply easier to go with the flow that to try to correct history.
Back in the 1990’s there was a discussion of the Serendipity which seemed such a great name for a fly. The discussion was on Flyfish@, and it so happened that a member of Flyfish@ was present when the fly that is now called the Serendipity was invented. Only like the Prince Nymph, it was not originally called the Serendipity by the inventor. Ross Merigold is generally given credit for the Serendipity, but the originator is an unnamed New Jersey high school teacher who invented it over 30 years ago in 1978.
Patrick Maxon, who I think has since passed away wrote about how the Serendipity came to be. The original messages of Flyfish@ are preserved in an archive, and I have retrieved the story as told by Patrick, in his own words.
You can retrieve it for yourself here:
http://tinyurl.com/b9dz8wo
Here is the original message:
--------QUOTE--------------
[i]Re: Serendipity (LONG)
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 17:57:53 -0500
Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest
Sender: Fly Fishing Digest
From: Patrick Maxon
G’Day all
The evolution of the Seredipity is an interesting story how resouceful
flyfisherman can be. The orginial name for the Serendipty was the Brown
Devil, Red Devil or Green Devil depending on the body wrap used. It all
started in July 1978 around nightly campfies in the heart of the Madison
River Canyon.
Back then, the most productive dry fly was the #12/14 elk hair caddis. One
evening a High School teacher from New Jersy ( a regular ) returned to the
male bonding campfire with heralds about a new pattern he discovered that
day. He recounted with vivid descriptions how he clipped the elk hair wing
from the dry fly pattern. He pocket fished it like a dry (short drift, pick
up and re cast - no flase casting) and would hook up as he lifted the rod to
cast. The pattern was a red bodied caddis emerger. That night we then tied
a dozen and everyone took a sample to begin a completly randomized design -
no replications - a fixed experiment :)). Many accepted with great reluctanc
e because we were “dyed in the wool” dry fly fishermen and this smacked of
nymphing. That changed the next morning!
That next afternoon, after the dryfly action with the elk hair caddis went
from fast and furious to a lull my partner switched patterns and started
hooking fish after fish. He yelled out, “you little devil,” examing the fly.
I switched to the red emerging caddis pattern and on the first drift as I
lifted, to load the rod, my eyes witnessed the take like a dry, the swirl,
the fin and a streaking rainbow.
That night, around the fire, we all recanted similar encounters with the
pattern - the clipped wing elk hair caddis. Theories ranged from a mimick
crippled pattern to a involuntary feeding feeding response to an emgering
pattern, we settled on the later because we felt the trout had no choice but
to take the pattern :^. That July night, the pattern was dubbed the Red
Devil.
Since it is in our genes to improve on a good thing 
many of us started
tying with differnt colored bodies. At the end of the season , mid August,
the consensus was that the brown, red, and green patterns behaved well and
they were all called the Brown, Red, and Green Devils… We ended up gold
ribbing the Devils to prolong the life and add to the attractiveness.
By 1982, The Devil evolved into the top producing pattren in the camp when
the dry action was slow. One variant that was added later that the entire
fly was coated with head cement to cause the pattern to sparkle also
airbubbles cause by the cement coated gave the pattern a more realistic
image. The Devils were The beat kept secret until about 1987.
Ross Merigold, God rest his soul, was a guide that loved the Madison and
developed the ram caddis pattern while living at Slide Inn. He fished with
us alot when not guiding and the camp was happy to share the Devil pattern
with him - he was such a wonderful man and a consumated Flyfisherman. After
his untimely passing, the folks at the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop took the Devil
patterns and renamed it the Serendipity in honor of Ross Merigold.
The pattern is world wide and the fish still hit it. Now there are
campfires every where discussing their latest patterns and the cycle shall
be repeated. The latest pattern and placed into the bible for generation
to come.
By the time the pattern became popular in 1990, the trout were “on to it” and
the pattern was scaled down the size to #18-20’s to pick up midges ect. Shade
of grey and ivory were developed to compliment to various pupae (sic). In
1991 the beadhead was added and in 1992 soft hackles. BTW the campfires are
still producing novel pattern that will sonn be available in the latest $$$$
Flyshops.
Cheers
Patrick Maxon [/i]
---------END QUOTE-------------
So a nameless New Jersey high school teacher, aided by his friends, around a campfire on the Madison River refined the pattern that would become the Serendipty. How perfect is that?
And how many of our patterns that have given names began with a single or group of now anonymous fly fishers? Our very nature is is to tinker. Let’s raise a toast to Patrick Maxon for preserving just a small part of our fly fishing heritage,
I initially wrote about this on another BB:
http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=64291
