What's In A Name

Courses Home Knots Equipment Fly Reels Fly Lines Leaders Fly Rods Insectology Flies Fish Casting Reference library Course map   Course subjects Home What are flies? Basic fly identification Fly classifications Anatomy of a fly Hook components Dry flies Wet flies Streamer flies Nymph flies Specialty flies Salmon flies Saltwater flies Fly styles Fly size How do you say that? Fly catalog   Flies Adams Ant Baetis emerger BH Caddis Emerger BH Caddis Pupa BH Charlie BH Golden Stone BH Hare's Ear BH Midge Pupa BH Prince Bitch Creek Black Beauty Black Caddis Black Gnat Black Whistler Blue Damselfly Blue Dun Blue Winged Olive Bonefish Fly Bonefish Shrimp Boom Creek Special Brassie Brown Caddis Brown Crab Brown Stonefly Caddis larva Carribean Lobster CDC CDC Midge Emerger Chironomid Pupa Cinnamon Ant Cockroach Comparadun Cricket Dahlberg Diver Dark Brown Drake Dark Hendrickson Dave's Hopper Dave's Mouserat Deerhair Frog Egg Fly Elk Hair Caddis Emerald Crab Epoxy Minnow Epoxy Shrimp Foam Beetle Foam spider Goddard Caddis Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Golden Stone Golden Stone Nymph Grannom Pupa Grasshopper Gray Caddis Green Caddis Emerger Green Caddis Pupa Green Weenie Griffith's Gnat Hemingway Caddis Henryville Special Humpy Joe's Hopper Light Cahill Little Olive Stone Little Yellow Stone March Brown Maribou Muddler Merkin Crab Montana Nymph Mosquito Olive Matuka Orange Grizzly Orange Midge pupa Pale Evening Dun Pale Morning Dun Parachute Caddis Pheasant Tail PMD Parachute Popper Prince Nymph Quill Gordon Red Damselfly Red/Orange Whistler Red Quill Renegade Rhyacophila caddis Royal Coachman Royal Wulff Salmon Fly San Juan Worm Sand Crab Silver Grey Sneeky Pete Sofa Pillow Stimulator Stonefly Stonefly bugger Stu Apte Ted's Stonefly Trico Spinner WD 40 Whit Hopper White Wulff Wigglehead Wooly Bugger Yellow Humpy Yellow Sally Yuk Bug Zug Bug

"How do you say that?"

The lexicon of fly fishing is unique.  Like many other sports, the fly fishing community has a language all its own.  Much of the intrigue lies in the names we use for our flies.  It is somewhat mystical, whimsical and catching all at the same time.  After all, in what other sport do you find participant's routinely using such terms as, "Wooly Bugger" . . . "Bitch Creek" . . . "Royal Coachman" . . . "Crazy Charlie" . . . "Sneaky Pete”?

Naming flies is not a science.  There is no "convention."  It is no different than naming a family pet.  The creator of the fly simply begins to call his/her creation by a name.  It may be the same as the name of the insect, fish or animal that the tyer is intending to imitate with the fly. 

These types of names are fairly obvious: (click to enlarge)

However, some old, "tried & true" flies, and many newer patterns, have names from "out of the blue".    Such flies as:

(click to enlarge)

Learning the names of the hundreds of different flies that a fly fisher might use over the course of their fly fishing career is a matter of both repetitive use and/or concentrated study.