I like to make my patterns as realistic as possible, but sometimes ive noticed that profile is more important...especially with midges, as its easy to put too much material on a size 22 fly and then it is just too bulky and does not mimic the real thing as well. Ive also messed around with tying realistic looking midge dries, but honestly havnt noticed that they work any better than my "quick ties" of just thread and CDC.
as far as damsel patterns, i definately noticed a difference with my "looks just like the real thing" ones compared to my "close enough" ones. the big thing ive noticed that makes a difference is how you retrieve them...no matter how realistic, the fish just wont hit them as much if you are not careful about the retrieve you employ while using them. an old buddy of mine i used to fish with (that now guides in montana, the last time i heard) would catch fish 5 to 1 over me just because the twist retrieve he used was much smoother than mine...and we would use the same patterns. this is one instance also that the realistic patterns we fished didnt work as well as the ones we just tied with green ostrich hurl, mono eyes, and thread. The ones we had with the pre fabricated tails made by Stalcup (no insult meant Mr Shane, if you are readin this

) looked awesome, but man, they just didnt catch fish as well. that seemed to be the deal that summer, but i wont give up fishing them...they just look waaay too good in my box to just let them sit.