Tandem fly terminology?

[flytire 0]

i

[Kudu 0]

Now my head hurts!

[redietz 0]

Silver is correct, at least as far as the terms have been used for the last five hundred years or so.

 

If "point" and "dropper" are too confusing, you might prefer "stretcher" and "hand fly". (The latter only refers to the fly closest to the angler, though. You're on your own about what the flies in between are called.)

 

AFAIK, "anchor" fly is a term from Euro-nymphing and doesn't really apply to any other context.

[SilverCreek 0]

George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.”

 

The bastardization of point fly is a prime example. I doubt a British angler would ever mix up what the point fly is.

[redietz 0]

I don't think it's so much by country, but over time. Forty years ago, no one on either side of the pond would have used "dropper" to mean anything to expect a fly tied above the point. Bergman, for example, wouldn't have. Unfortunately for standardization of terminology the phrase "dry/dropper" does make some sense (especially since "hopper-dropper" is easily remembered.) I think "dry/dropper" may even gaining some currency in the UK.

 

Language changes. 500 years ago, the word "dun" as a color meant brown. 200 years ago, as a description of a natural insect, it meant a caddis fly.

 

I will, however, continue to use the traditional terminology for dropper/point.