Antron Wing Color

[TomW]

Well Guys
Just got back from Yellowstone only to realize that the old eyes are not what they used to be.

I tie a nice loop wing antron emerger size 18-20 with a white wing. This year I had a hard time picking out the fly when it was in the foam line. Not so much trouble in the past.

So... my question is there another color, other than white, for a wing that might be easier for me to see but won't spook the fish.

Thanks for your comments

Tom

[ScottP]

I fished some with a black winged Clacka Caddis that Wally Weise ties (like an Iris with hackle in front) for evenings on the Madison when the river gets that silvery sheen; seemed to work pretty well. Not sure how it would show up in the foam. If that doesn't work and you don't want to go with something like chartreuse, I'd tie the emerger off the back of something a little easier to see like an Elk Hair Caddis or CDC and Elk.

Regards,
Scott

[Normand]

orange, pink, black, chartreuse, white are all good colors

[flybugpa]

zelon in Polar Bear, from BRF sticks out like a sore thumb if you gotta have a white color. Normand colors are gonna be good also.
I fish tanden dries when there are mulitple specie bugs on, so both will have 2 different color wings

[NJTroutbum]

I've noticed orange to spook fish in a wing post or wing.

[chewydog]

I've noticed orange to spook fish in a wing post or wing.

I've found orange to work well during caddis hatches. I used an orange posted klink with a brown ab. Probably taken more for an emerger than an adult.

[MontanaMoose]

I changed from white to gray antron for loop wings on the recomendation from Woody at The Fly Shop. Worked too. Polarized sun glasses helped also.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[quivira kid]

Pink seems to work really well for me as an indicator...

[hairwing]

Al Troth has some comments you may want to listen too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR27csOJPVc

[Eight Thumbs]

Hi Tom,

That's an excellent question and I'm sure that you're going to get LOTS of excellent answers----all different. I've just finished reading an excellent book by Arlen Thomason called Bug Water that addresses this very question. I strongly recommend this book to anyone but particularly Western fisherman since most of Arlen's bugs come from this area. Arlen (and others) have pointed out that fish see only pattern of lighted stars on the water made by feet and other body parts that come in contact with the water when the bug is outside the fish's window of clear vision. As the bug drifts into the window of vision, the wings are the first thing the fish sees clearly and therefore the wings are one of the first stimuli that triggers a strike. Bright wing colors are certainly seen and detected by the fish at this time and become even more evident as the fly floats closer. I believe that the bright colors, even when mixed or partly masked by more natural shades are going to cost you some percentage of strikes. In fact, I'm not certain that super bright, white Antron doesn't scare off a certain percentage of fish. This is why I lean toward a light gray shade of Antron wings for many of my flies. I too have some vision problems with flies in certain light and water conditions so I will switch to more visible flies when I'm having trouble following the drift or even seeing the fly in the first place. I just keep in mind that there is a cost for this trade off. My improved vision may well cost a strike or two. In heavily fished areas like Yellowstone’s public water, I would imagine that educated fish would be even more likely to notice that real mayflies don’t have chartreuse wings. Just my 2% of a dollar. I'm sure others will disagree. 8T