Hi all.

Just another similar question as before what are bumbles meant to imitate?

And when is the best time to use them?

Thanks.

Here is a link for you mate.
Claret Bumble Bumble Trout Fly | Fish4Flies.com

A good site also for fly tying and info is,
The Step by Step Fly Tying Resource
Mike

__________________
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,9 bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey bee.

I don't think bumbles are meant to imitate anything really.
The more colourful ones are basically mini-lures (as are most wet flies when you think about it) and the drab ones are, well, drab mini-lures.
What the trout take 'em for? Who knows...
I think the way they are usually fished means the trout are faced with a "use it or lose it" dilemma & they take either because they think it may be a food item of some sort, or (and in my opnion more often likely) they are simply curious about what this fly is. Trout are very poor at inspecting items of interest with their fins, so fortunately for us they have a good munch instead

Steve's got it about right. Some traditional wets have a vague resemblance to insects, eg a Soldier Palmer could suggest a hatching red buzzer, but in the main they are the early versions of lures such as Blobs. Some members think that using traditionals for brown trout sets them on a higher moral plane than the rest of us, but it's bullsh*t really. What are Butchers, Peter Ross, Silver Invicta and the rest if not lures?

Kingsmill Moore, the chap who concieved the Bumbles and a member of the fly fishers club, made the bumbles to be all things to all men, even to the point of fishing some semi dry, worth reading his book,easker1