I am even less of a purist. If the bream are in shallow, I put on a popping bug and have a ball. Also catch bass if one happens by. I do some tying and again, simple works for me. I found the Griffins Gnat to be really easy to tie in small sizes and if there is a pan fish anywhere around, they can't stand that little bug floating on the surface. I did tie some hellgrammites for subsurface fishing and caught a lot of 1 lb. bass in a pond, but most of my fly fishing is on top.