Borrowing a trick from tournament bass pros, fly fishers can alter the shape of most bugs with a little careful trimming to achieve and desired action. All bugs should be attached with a loop knot. I use a Duncan Loop, but a fixed loop will do as well. The point is to allow the bug to move freely in all directions. A third, and equally important consideration, is materials.
Bodies can be too hard or dense and defeat the desired presentation.
Mike Huffman and I both set out to create foam-bodied wasp patterns. While both look pretty, his worked and mine didn't. I used pieces of a cylindrical foam for the body which was too dense and heavy to land properly on the water. Mike used lighter foam sheets joined by stiff mono. I'll go into more detail about specific design and performande characteristics in a futre issue.