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It's a easy fly to tie - and it produced fish back then and can do so again in this mundane version

Legs, body and wings - three materials, just as prescribed in the mundane dogma

Another simple, three-material fly. This time a shrimp, well suited for seatrout and probably fine for a number of other saltwater species not least bonefish. Super simple to tie and with easily accessible and cheap materials.

For many saltwater anglers the term "worm hatch" has a magical ring to it. When the worms spawn, the fish usually go berserk, be it trout, stripers or tarpon. As one writer puts it: It's like yelling "free lunch" to a high school football team.

Sand eels are very common in most waters around the world. When we take sea trout and gut them 8 out of 10 of the ones, which have anything in their stomach, have sand eels or similar small fish in their stomach. The sand eels here vary from an inch in length to about 10 for the really big ones. I'll stay in the smaller range and make a fly, which can be handled on a one hand rod in my favorite 5-7 weight range, and will imitate the smaller near-shore sand eels nicely.

I have always thought that complex flies were a menace. On one side I can be fascinated by a meticulously thought out imitation with many materials and intricate tying steps, and I sometimes enjoy tying such flies for fun. But on the other hand I hate tying them when I just need to fill my boxes.