When is a fly not a fly?

[Wildfisher]

I am fitting out a garage at home right  now (to use as a store for my wife's fabric business) and have been using cans of that   expanding  foam stuff to fill in gaps around the eaves  before I insulate and line the inside. OK, what’s this got to do with fly tying? Well, that foam stuff is bloody messy to work with but it has great possibilities in fly tying. Daddy  bodies  are just one obvious application. A completely  no-hackle design would be easy. Remember that it can be moulded into any shape, is soft, is tough as old boots  and floats like a cork. I will experiment……………

But ………..this also set me thinking. When is a fly no longer a fly. These fly spoon  things, for example, are just spinners that you cast with a fly rod, so what about other unorthodox materials?  Like expanding foam for example?  What are the limits?

[Wildfisher]

It's no more than a moot point anyway. But that foam has possibilities. It is dammed messy to work with though.

[Wildfisher]

That's a good point, but is a spoon any worse  that hanging  a dozen strands of flash bright  on the fly?  That foam I talk of could make some really realistic flies, like daddies with no hackles. It's just not traditional. A bit like using carbon fibre to make rods. It'll never catch on!  :lol:

[Wildfisher]

There's nothing new in fly fishing ! I've yet to see a hatch of Alexandra's or Dunkelds.

I'm pretty sure I saw a hatch of Dunkeld's a  few times back in the early '70s, but let's no t  go into that one…………. :lol:

[Wildfisher]

Feck me Fred your not missing a few brain cells from then as well  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Jim

Aye, it only then I realised what Jack Bruce meant by "tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers".

He was obviously an anglers and was fishing for rainbows.  :lol:

[deergravy]

This whole 'is it fly-fishing?' thing comes up again and again. It must seem ridiculous to our coarse fishing brethren as we tie ourselves in knots over what is and isn't a legitimate method.
But then, I suppose that's the point of fly fishing - self-imposed restrictions; choose your own boundaries.
As I see it, if you're using fly tackle and an inedible fly/lure/bait, you're fly fishing. Beyond that it's a matter of taste.

Dave