Traditional Wet Flies

[Andy B]

Wet Flies:

First let's talk about married wings, Goose Duck and Swan all marry very nicely together. Also note that most marrying issues are do to using the wrong sides of the feather. Meaning trying to marry a left feather with a right. I have married duck to goose to swan with no issues what so ever. The thing that you need to look for when marrying feathers is make sure the segments from two different feathers came out of the same region. Now why is this an important step. Look at a feather in general. Notice how the quill segments are smaller and thinner in the bottom of the feather and as you go up the feather the segments get a little larger and a little thicker. When making married wings on wet flies keep the quill segments consistent. This will build a stronger wing that ties on the hook easier and prevent crumpling/folding under.
Now once quill segments have been cut out and sized, there is no need to cut the wings. Just tie them on. Before you tie them on measure them on the hook where you would like to tie them in on that makes you feel the wing look right. I have my own method and proportions when tying classic Ray Bergman wet flies. I will not share this in this thread unless some one wants to know.
Now far as buying feathers, I do try to hand pick them. The reason for this because I can see the quality and size of the fly and always look to see on the back side of the feather how large the blood line is. Feathers with very big blood lines are useless and will not give you a lot of usable slips. Keep in mind I tie and fish with size 6 & size 8 wets flies very successfully. So this large blood line gives me a lot less segmnets to use that will fit my size 6 & 8 hooks. Also the quill segments in front of the blood line is usable part that use to form the wing and make the tie in point on. The blood line segment is not to be used for the tie in point. This makes tying the wings in very difficult and also makes the wings roll around the hook.
Now feathers I buy on line I found a few good sources that I use. These shops get to know me and learn what I am looking for. Yes feathers do get crumpled & wrinkled when you buy them or they get shipped. In most cases the feather can be easily fixed by a steam iron on the lowest setting. Anything more damaged then this I send back to the shop for a change out.
Lastly when marrying turkey like in the Ferguson I use goose shoulder instead of Duck or Goose Quills. The Goose shoulder follows the contour of the turkey and allows marrying to occur very nicely.
I know a little about wet flies and I hope this blurb helped out.

Andy B

[Bamboozle]

I have my own method and proportions when tying classic Ray Bergman wet flies. I will not share this in this thread unless some one wants to know.

I want to know! I'm new to the classic wet fly game.

[RCream]

Me too!, Thanks.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,
After reading Andy B's post above, I think I know why people were confused about how I got extra wings. I'm using goose shoulder feathers, not goose quill feathers, for my wings. These have very long fibers, and since I'm tying size 12 and 14s, I can get two or three flies tied after marrying one set of slips.

- Jeff

[kayakfish]

I bought every color under the sun from,The Feather Place,@,20 cents a pair, and if you request they will pair left and right for you, just let them know you are using them for tying flies. Some arent super perfect but for the price you cant beat it. They also have other feathers as well . Just Google The Feather Place

[Capt. Ahab]

I wonder if they have Wood Duck breast feathers. Might be a good source and I need some asap.

[Normand]

my first married wings

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[Normand]

Hi,
After reading Andy B's post above, I think I know why people were confused about how I got extra wings. I'm using goose shoulder feathers, not goose quill feathers, for my wings. These have very long fibers, and since I'm tying size 12 and 14s, I can get two or three flies tied after marrying one set of slips.

- Jeff

I'm confused as to why you do what you do for winging wets. i would think if you are tying classic winged wet flies you would use the natural tips of the feather for all of your flies. maybe its being economical.

[Warm Water Fly Fisher]

Nice Norm

[Andy B]

Since a few people asked about wet fly wing proportions, I will glad to further explain. The proportions that I am providing are for tying classic wet flies that appeared in Ray Bergman's book Trout that were painted by Dr Burke.

The Tail:

1) When tied in should be the length of the hook. Meaning the top flat part of the hook.

2) If using quills for tails I use the following quill segments to make the thickness of the tail look semetrical. Size 6 & 8 hooks four to three quill segments. Size 10 three quill segments and size 12 two quill segments.

The Wing (Duck Or Goose Quills):

1) The width of the wing is 2/3 the hook gap

2) Sizing the wing before tying in, I do the following. Look at the bottom of the wing and look at this last or bottom quill segment. I make sure this last segment does not extend past the bend of the hook.

3) When step two is measured correctly the top of the wing in most cases when tied in will extend half the distance of the tail.

Here's a little trick for where to tie the wings in on the hook. What I was taught and also experimented with is to take another hook of the same type and lay it on the hook top just touching the back of the eye of the hook that's in the vise. What you are looking for is that the diameter of the hooks eye the hook that you are measuring with will provide all the space that you will need to tie in the floss and ribbing, the beard/false hackle and last the wings. If you use the diameter of the hooks eye all the time on wet flies, you will form nice heads, keep proportins in check. The issue here, it will force you to use less thread and make really nice formed heads.

I do this on all my wet flies that I fish with as well as sale for display.

I will post a picture or two of some of my wet flies for you to get a better understanding of these instructions.

Andy B[/url]