The essence of zen is the beauty of simple things. Fly or Nymph Fishermen tend to fall into one of the above three categories. I am a semblance minimalist fly fisher and only carry 5 or 6 different patterns. I used to carry around 3000 patterns, I was an exact imitationalist, as I was a commercial tyer in my youth. But nowadays it’s just Rim Chhng’s RS2, the Improved Yong Special, the YKnot, the Calgon Fly, Andy Kim’s micro egg and a pheasant tail variant. If I found my former methodology more effective, I’d return to it. But minimalism suits me, and the fish as well.
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My old pen pal Nick Sawyer explains the minimalist set up well: http://EzineArticles.com/4255534