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Thread: muddler tails and wings

  1. #1
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    Default muddler tails and wings

    okay.
    when I tie muddler wings/tails I tie them off of one side of the feather quill. when I've used up all the feather from one side, can I use the feathers from the other? I usually just go buy another pair of feathers.

    I suppose I could just try it out and see how things work, but I'm wondering what y'all do.

    mgj

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    170

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    Hi Mikey
    Muddler threads always get my attention, only because I enjoy fishing, not so much so because I enjoy tying them.

    Anyway to address your question, I use slips from both sides of the feather. My feathers have sections missing and some left on both sides of the stem. I didn't know going right down one side was a thing to do or not to .

    Just courious, why wouldn't you have used from the other side before now?

    I use either peacock or turkey quill (depending on my mood) for wings, my fethers usually have long enough fibers on both sides. -Yaf
    A warm summers rain falls down on a quiet fishing stream
    Lined with cabins, smoke straight to the sky
    Two ol fishin buddies with never a care
    Teasing a trout with a fly.
    (Simani, "This Isle of Mine")

  3. #3
    Guest

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    I don't know.

    all I know is that I have bunches of turkey tail pairs with feathers taken from one side each and none from the other.

    I think I'm gonna go tie one from the other side now.

    mgj

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Anderson, South Carolina (Northwest corner of SC) USA
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    2,523

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    I've never though about it that much. I use the bigger, softer side of matched quills for my muddlers. It just seemed like it was easier to handle. Of course I bought bunches of speckled brown quills when Herters was selling 6 pairs for $.27 in 1968. 8T

    ------------------
    You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it's a real short camping season.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Amstelveen, The Netherlands
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    1,188

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    Michael...

    when I tie muddler wings/tails I tie them off of one side of the feather quill. when I've used up all the feather from one side, can I use the feathers from the other? I usually just go buy another pair of feathers.
    Will only really work if you turn the vise around and start tying left handed until the feathers have run out...

    Cheers,
    Hans W
    dunning&ducking...

    ------------------
    === You have a friend in Low Places ===
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    ===================== You have a Friend in Low Places ======================
    Hans Weilenmann, The Netherlands
    http://www.flytierspage.com
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  6. #6

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    mikey:

    Are you cutting a big slip and folding it?

    You can try using the leading edge of the feather but I bet you'll find that the biots give you trouble. Some of the secondary feathers from in toward the body may have long enough biots...so it's worth a poke.

    For the sake of the Tying god's I'll add two comments:

    1. You can (and "should" ) use matched left and right wings and take matched slips from each wing (see thread on Quill wings, the same rules apply). Forgive me if I interpreted your question wrongly.

    2. The late Poul Jorgensen advises using the tail coverts to tie muddles. They are softer and very attractive, albeit a tad different than what the Muddler had morphed into these days.

    I think a very sparse muddler tied with black or very dark brown hair and fished just under the surface in muddy shallow riffles is a deadly sculpin imitation.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Santee, Ca., U.S.A.
    Posts
    670

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    Yo Mikey,
    From a matched pair of quills I use the longer fibered, better marked side for the wings and the shorter , "not so better marked" side for tails. But, if both sides have good, long, nicely marked fibers, use bothem' fer wings.

    ------------------
    Dennis ~BadBug~

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