There is a disease rampant among fly fishermen that causes one to relish the difficult and the miserable, to willingly subject oneself to the harshest of conditions, lusting after the elusive. To stack skill and will against low probability, hoping for high reward. This defines the hunt for predatory fish—most purely, the quest for musky.

Certain beliefs are so widely and deeply entrenched in our sport that they’re essentially considered givens, and rarely, if ever, called into question. One of the most closely held says that fly pattern matters. Matters in terms of success. We’re taught to believe that our choice of fly is responsible for the fish we catch, and that if we merely find the right fly, our success will know no bounds. But does it really work that way? Is our choice of fly that critical? Good question.