ribbing wulffs

wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:04:25 -0600, Willi wrote:

wrote:
Hi All,

Tying up a batch of small wulffs for a trip.

1) Do you guys rib them? They look better in my eye with some fine gold
wire or crystal flash, though this is not apparent on any pattern or
references.

2) Do you use deer or elk? Can you articulate what makes good hair?

3) When you tie in the wing is it about 1/2 way up the shank?

4) How long do you make the tails?

I ask 3 and 4 because I have had some problems with Wullf's riding on
their noses though they look fine.

Thanks very much,

TBone
Guilt replaced the creel...



Try tying a few trude style. I think they work even better, they're
easier to tie and they never land "wrong."

Willi

I'm curious as to your experience with these never landing "wrong."
I don't see, as a broad statement and without taking the
proportions/"float line" into account, how the wing position/style could
make this true, but ???
[snip]

Howdy,

This is kind of at the heart of this thread. A long time ago I was
taught that the tails of a wulff should be shorter than on a normal dry
fly, and more bulky, and that the wings should be set back a little
towards the middle than on a normal thorax dry. In reviewing this
thread several things have come to mind and a few more questions
remain.

Instead of saying "wulff" to define this class of tie I think
"hair-wing dry fly" is better. Are the proportions different (than
other winging methods) because the weight of deer hair too far forward
tends to overcome the weight of the gap part of the hook and tail,
despite otherwise normal proportions? I'd like to weigh a wing size
clump of hair, some hackle tips, calf tails etc. as well as the weight
of just the gap of a hook. I imagine that the weight of thread is
potentially contributory as more is needed to secure deer hair ends.

The other thing of interest (to me anyway) is that I tie on more varied
hook styles than ever before. Someone mentioned 1X shank length to make
these easier and look better, but I believe it's possible that this
would only increase the potential for nose dive moving it forward of
the COG more.

It also dawned on me, d'oh, that the normal prescription for tails, (1
X shank length), is not as fundamentally sound as making it relative to
the gap width as this has more to play with hackle length and that
'plane' which runs from hackle tips to tail points. So, for the deer
hair dry flies we might be better served by Tail - 1 to 1.5 Gap, Wings
positioned only slightly forward of center of shank.

Thanks,

TBone
Guilt replaced the creel.