quill wing angle is wrong

[bearsden bill]

measure the angle on a typical dry and it is about 70 deg.+/- from the head of the fly - but- measure the angle of the wing of a real mayfly and the angle is 70 deg.+/- from the tail.

why?????

other than thats the way it is done....

i find myself counting micro fibbets to be realistic but then i proceed to tie the wings at the wrong angle like i learned in class....

if we tie to match does it impact the way the fly floats? we know they catch fish but why the fish don't laugh at the fly with the backward wings - i don't know ... or are the naturals made wrong?

[Royal Wulff]

bill, RW here,

That is an interesting question and should elicit lots of responses. I lived near several streams and lakes when I lived in Maine and mayflies were always on my screens and windows on my deck during the spring. All varieties too. Never did I see a mayfly perched with its wings split. In fact most all mayflies I see on the streams I fish float and drift with their wings together, which I conclude means that the fish seldom see them with their wings split, except maybe when some species flutter upon taking off.

Even Theodore Gordon, over 100 years ago, started tying the wings on his mayflies as a single post. Therefore it seems to me that down through the history of fly fishing, fly fishers started tying split wing mayflies because they looked more attractive to the angler, rather than the fish. I doubt the fish could care less. In fact, I tie most of the dry flies I fish with in the variant style (no wings at all}. I only tie split wings for show flies. As Art Flick alluded to in his best selling "Streamside Guide", variants float better and can take more of a beating. I have historical references to this but don't feel like looking them up at the moment. I've got too many books..lol.

Later, RW

[Aftershaft]

There has been much discussion on wing profile. Goddard and Clarke's "Trout and the Fly" for instance mentions that the wing is a trigger point for the trout.

There are patterns that do have the wing slanted back in books by Ken Iwamasa and Gary Borger's "Presentation" book so some people think it's important. And I have wing burners (that I haven't used in many years) that will create wings from hen feathers, etc that look exactly like a natural mayflie's wing.

But, I haven't tied flies with wings like that in years. I think it's do to me fishing mostly small dries, or dry flies in fast water where the bodies, etc.. maybe the trigger point. We do have a few large mayflies here where I live in Montana (Gray Drakes, Green Drakes, Brown Drakes) but I think it's the body mass that makes more of a difference than a wing (and mostly fish parachutes or Sparkle/Compara Duns).

Now flies like Sparkle Duns and Compara Duns probably catch more trout on top than any other pattern and yet their wings are the opposite than a natural's!! No mayfly has wings like that!

Just my two cents.