Imitators V.S. Attractors - And when to use them

Have you ever wondered what people are talking about when they call a fly and imitator or an attractor pattern? Well here is the answer, a imitator pattern does exactly what it sounds like it is a fly that imitates a real world insect they are usually neutral colors which most real flies are. an example of an imitator would be the egg sucking leech and it imitates just that a leech sucking on a trout or salmon egg. On the other end of the spectrum we have the attractor patterns and these are meant to be bright flashy and loud and not really imitating anything a good example of an attractor pattern would be the Alaskabou. So now that you know the difference between the two I'm sure your next question is when to use them? Well there are two answers to this question if your using a fly rod you are generally using only one fly at a time there for you have to use one or the other in this case you look at whats happening on the water if there is a hatch of mayflies for example i would use a mayfly imitator, if the water is slightly discolored or there is no hatch and no trout playing on the water i would try an attractor not only will it stand out more in discolored water but may also agitate resting fish that don't want this ugly thing coming around there turf so they will strike at it to scare it away. the second answer would be for people using a bobber and flies or plug and flies this setup is usually used on a spinning rod with a wooded bobber (or plug) at the end of the line with two dropper flies about a foot apart from each other and the bobber i will be posting this technique in a later post in more detail. if your using this kind of setup again look at the water first see if there is any hatches going on or if there are any trout playing on the water. if for example there is a big hatch of mayflies on the water i would put two imitators on, if there are trout playing but no sign of any hatches i will use one of each and if the pond or river is flat with no sign of trout anywhere i would try two attractors. my personal preference is to go 1 and 1 that way you have the best of both worlds. so there you have it Imitators V.S. attractors and when to use them, I hope you find this post helpful and keep checking back comments on this post or any other posts are more then welcome and are appreciated.