Then I shall defer to George's elders: John Merwin and Lee Wulff. Merwin recently wrote in his column in Field & Stream, "Lee Wulff once told me he thought a fly, by definition, had nothing added to it that would impart action in the water. No spinner blade, propeller, wobbling plate or lip, wiggly plastic tail, and so on. I agree, although there are plenty of things sold as �flies� these days that have some of the foregoing built in."

Noted fly fishing guide, author and fly tyer Henry Cowen and I have had some lively personal conversations about the origin of spin flies and acknowledges that my Spinster fly was published in national fly fishing publications some time before his famous Coyote spin fly.

Before he published his spin fly, IGFA certified that it to be a �fly� and would be accepted as such for IGFA records.

Below comments from Bob Popovics are timely for this conversation.
IIRC Dan Blanton, FFF hall of famer, agrees with the modern definition.



http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=453874

A Fly or Not A Fly?

I next attended a tying demo at Henry Cowen's table where the Coyote was being tied. A spinning blade in front of a fly? A propeller on a fly? Is it a fly? Well, I have to say I read just before going to Somerset that the IGFA does, in fact, consider the fly with the propeller a "fly"! Most likely, then, the Coyote with the spinner blade in front would also be considered to be a fly by them. I remember a couple of years ago when Bob Popovics was a guest at our fly club on LI and tied up a propeller fly as well as a fly which consisted of thread on a hook and a Fin-S superglued onto a hook! The members were aghast! Bob just smiled and said, "if you consider it a fly, it is a fly-have fun with it." That's what flyfishing is all about. It really just depends on how each of us wants to catch a fish....we know the Siliskin Sand Eel will catch fish. It's a beautiful, wiggly and lifelife fly, or, even, what some might consider a "lure". Regardless of which category we flytiers put it in, it seems to be a good, new technique and it will catch fish. Whether we choose to fish the Gummi Sand Eel as a lure or fly is our personal decision. At the end of the day, does it really matter to anyone but ourselves?

No, it doesn't. And that was the point I was making to deckhand in the post that led to this discussion. I have ZERO problem with any of this stuff, just started a thread here about spoon flies, tied some, took pictures of them, and put them on my website, and I've given advice and info about various fly-sized lures on this forum on several occassions...advice born of experience with them. But MY OPINION is along the lines of Wulff's when it comes to actually trying to define the difference between a fly and any other type of lure. Although I'm not totally comfortable with Lee's definition, either. I would have added (as I did above) that the materials must be tied onto the hook shank and not just glued or skewered there. But it's just a definition. It has nothing whatsoever to do with morality, ethics, one-up-man-ship, or who is having the most fun.

I love spoon flies - beem tyin 'em for years ....
I'll see of I still have some and take a photo - been giving away most of my old stuff.

Brimbum: "Have fun with this stuff"

Yep, I found them � probably 20 years old �

Nice. The material I couldn't find after looking all over town was gold foil tape or even just gold foil...of any kind. Too close to Xmas I guess.

I have used probably a dozen different types of material to construct spoonflys, and I have never found one that pleases me enough to stick with. The versatility of designs possible made them intriguing to play with for a bit, but I have never cast them at fish because they twisted my leader so badly in trials, and I am not going to put a tiny swivel in my leader. If I have to resort to a spoon to catch my redfish, I almost always have a spinning rod handy in the 'yak.

That long tail will certainly make them dance along above the grass, although accuracy might be an issue.

It's purely an experiment for me, too. We'll see how it goes.