flymph n. a fishing lure resembling an insect between the nymph and fly stages of development. Etymological Note: Perhaps coined by and probably popularized by Vernon S. Hidy. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of...
One of the most powerful words you’ll ever hear — and one of the most poignant — isn’t in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The word is endling, and it means “the last surviving member of a species.” The...
My father, Vernon S. Hidy, coined the word “flymph” in 1962. He told the story in an essay, “The Origin of Flymph Fishing,” published in THE ANGLERS’ CLUB BULLETIN, Vol 53, No 3, Autumn, 1974.
His book, “The Art of Tying the Wet Fly and Fishing the Flymph” (Crown) appeared in 1971 (originally coauthored with Leisenring in 1941). Dad’s Swedish friend Gunnar Johnson translated the word for the title of his 1989 book, “Flymfer & andra mjukhacklade flugor.”