Cold Dry Fly Bluegill

Last week I noticed that a good panfish pond I fish still had risers, regardless of the icy cold water. I headed down with a 4 weight and a Royal Wulff. I hooked my first fish, and lost it. It continued jumping, typical of a broken off fish, but I could still see my fly. After missing 6 more fish I looked at the fly, and evidently the whole bend had broken off! My luck improved with a new fly, a grasshopper.

How can such a colorful, spirited fish be called trash?