Calf tail wings are driving me nuts!!!

[Jax]

gutbomb; Try French Chalk or talcum powber on your calf tails it will help with stacking.

Also you can give the Calf Tail a good shampoo with mums best shampoo and finish with a good conditioner. This will also help with stacking. Have Fun. Jax

[Steven]

Why bother?

Get some white Turkey T-base feathers. Use them instead. You can post 'em for a parachute or split 'em (like wood duck) for dries.

Honestly, I don't really understand the calf tail, calf body thing for dry fly wings at all. It's not going help your fly float properly.

[ashbourn]

Honestly, I don't really understand the calf tail, calf body thing for dry fly wings at all. It's not going help your fly float properly.

I have always gotten a kick out of that. Alot of people make a huge deal about floating wings, but if you have a parachute or a upright wing dry the wings should not be under the water.
Our most effective Isonychia Parachutes has a Antron post and it float just a long as poly or calf body hair.

I do like calf because I feel natural white materials are easier to see then most white polys. I also like the shape calf can make a wing vs turkey flats and it has been working for over 75 years.

Joe Fox

[billknepp]

I'll second the T-base, Faster, Better airfoil, for having the fly land upright and fewer thread wraps. Which makes for an over all lighter fly..which does help keep it afloat longer in the long run.
Calftail is a waste of money imho. I've replaced it in all aspects of tying...I like Kid Goat where CT would be called for in streamers...Much straighter, Longer and about the same in texture and sheen.

[kengore]

Spray the calf tail with 'cling free' a spray on laundry product used to eliminate static cling for clothes. Use the kind that comes in an aerosal ca, not the dryer sheets.


Even the most kinky calf tail will stack nicely after treatment.

This poduct also works to eliminate static shock around the computer desk, just spray the carpet and floor in the adjacent area.

[Middle Branch]

Calf hair is way easier to see than any poly. That's my biggest beef with poly for dry fly winging materail. You'd think somebody would come up with a white synthetic that is as visible as calf hair, it can't be that difficult. And poly wings on a size 16 Wulff fished 40 feet away on a bouncy riffle? Forget about it.
Calf hair is also far more durable than T-base wings. They stay bright and full after a few fish, whereas turkey flats slime up.

Plus they are traditional!

With practice you can mount and set a pair of calf body hair wings in a minute or so.

My two cents anyway.

[Fly Goddess]

Snow Shoe Bunny feet. Between the toes. It is buoyant as heck, easy to tie, never mind the stacking, just trim.
Also, think about BLACK for real sunny days with white puffy clouds, much easier to see. Snow Shoe Bunny comes in all sorts of shades.

[gutbomb]

Thank you all for the help. I now have a bunch of #14 & #16 au sable wulffs at home with nice looking wings.

[Middle Branch]

So what'd you end up doing? Calf body hair?

[gutbomb]

Body hair on the 14's & 16's. I went back and trimmed up some of the others that were tied with calf tail.