Tying wings

"Benjamin Turek" wrote in
news:vGgFf.1330$VX2.731@trndny04:

Do you guys think a particular type of wing style works best. I like
divided calf for about all of my flies, because I can see it easier,
but I wonder if its better to use a different style.




Depends on many things-- profile you're trying to achieve, how the fly is
supposed to sit on the water, how long you want to spend tying a fly,
materials on hand.

For downwing midges, I like something like Z-wing. For many mayflies, I
like a Usual, if I want the fly to sit low in the water. It's easy and has
no hackle.

--
Scott
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"Benjamin Turek" wrote in message
news:vGgFf.1330$VX2.731@trndny04...
Do you guys think a particular type of wing style works best. I like
divided calf for about all of my flies, because I can see it easier, but I
wonder if its better to use a different style.


As we've seen wings can get things flapping around here. G

So MY views, and I speak only of 'mayfly' ties, as that seems to be where
the bicker lines get drawn ;-) ... I can't remember anyone ever seriously
saying that they tie EHCs without the EH, even on Usenet.

(1) 95% of the time, it will make no difference to Mr Trout, but may to Mr
Fisherman ( visibility )

(2) the 5% can vary from wings being 'mildly important' to wings being 'THE
key feature needed to fool the fish.'

Truly selective trout are rare, I spend my time looking for them, they are a
passion with me, and each year I locate only a few that are, briefly, very
Very VERY selective.

But selectivity is a sliding scale, not a digital, on/off, matter.

So, it is a reflection of 'selectivity' that almost always some reasonable
imitation of a food form the fish have eaten recently will out fish 'whimsy
patterns' ....during mayfly hatch periods, you are very likely to do best
with something that looks a bit like the mayfly hatching.

But, one of the most common things Mr Trout does as he slides up the
selectivity scale is start taking, mainly or exclusively, emerging/ crippled
naturals. These bugs do NOT have upright wings in the classic fly tier
sense and, thus, NOT having wings can be important to success.

True 'locked on' selectivity to upright winged naturals is VERY rare ... but
IME it does happen and when it happens you damn well better have a good
'wing profile' to show Mr Fish if you want to talk to him at close range.

Oddly, I've seen this more often with spinner falls than dun emergence ...
i.e. individual fish will lock on to spinners that still have both, or one,
wing upright and refuse the more traditional spent spinners ...naturals and
fakes ... MY belief is that this is directly proportional to fishing
pressure, as the places I've seen it the fish get to see LOTS of dry flies
each day, and during a spinner fall they will be challenged by several
experienced, knowledgeable, anglers that know enough to recognize the fall,
name it in LatinG, and present a delicate fully spent pattern.


NOW, your question ...sorta .... if I was forced to choose a single upright
winged mayfly dun pattern to feed that rare fish ... I'd choose either a
Lawson style no hackle ( flattest water ) or a Harrop Hair Winged Dun ....
these choices reflect my love of certain waters and the fact that I've met
and chatted with both the men that developed the patterns, BUT, they
developed them influenced by a collection of Mr Trouts that can be as picky
as any I've been able to find in the USA, West of the Mississippi ... they
are excellent patterns.

NOTICE: that neither of these patterns has a 'solid' wing, the fibers of the
no hackle wing split apart in a cast or two and the deer hair wing starts
life split into individual fibers.

My next two choices would be "thorax dun" and "hackle stacker" ..... a
little thought leads one to realize that all four patterns started life on
flat water known for tough fish ( HFork, LeTort, Fall River/ Hat Creek ),
and all four share several features .... strong wing profile, low float with
the thorax ON the surface, maybe a little in it, and a clear view of both
the thorax and wing for the fish. All four have wide acceptance in
circles and places where fish are known to be choosy. I've personally
talked fishing theory with Lawson, Harrop and Quigley enough to have the
sense that none of them would add things to their own flies because it was
'fashionable' or 'traditional' ( if anything the opposite would be true,
avoiding the already done dun )

..... I'm forced to reach the conclusion that low floating strong wing
profile patterns simply work best .... in the rare cases a fully developed
dun is actually needed and for fish that have seen it all


Retirement, at least off season, is actually pretty boring, as must be
clear from this AARP post G I'll add a couple remembered moments when
wings were important

http://www.kimshew.com/flyfish/displ...php?log_id=196

and

http://www.kimshew.com/flyfish/displ....php?log_id=40