Every artificial fly is necessarily a compromise. It has to carry a hook; to float or to sink; to be durable; to be attractive:
- by appealing to hunger or appetite
- by exciting curiosity, rage, rapacity, pugnacity or jealousy
It appeals to hunger or appetite by suggesting an insect either living, or newly drowned, or otherwise dead, in one of its aerial or subaqueous stages, or a shrimp, or a small fish.