tying first dry fly - need guidance

[Byron haugh]

Mao,
If you're asking me, my response:
Not sure, but assume I know the old flies you're referring to.....those tied with 2 large feathers?

I would say this:
1. I have never, personally tied, nor fished one.
2. I would need to put one in a slant tank to see what such a fly would look like from beneath the water as it floated, hopefully, head-first toward the sunken trout. Trout spend little time 3.5 to 4 feet above the surface looking at the artificial or natural as we do while wading in the stream.
Perhaps, from a couple feet below the surface, and coming at the trout, these wing tips look like divided wing tips.

I couldn't say, for sure, without putting one in my slant tank and observing it.

[Steven]

I've read Modern Dry Fly Code many times and have probably read all of Founding Flies three or four times.

Marinaro had to have tall, separate wings because of the criss cross hackling pattern of his thorax dun. Valla notes on a couple of pages (I think it might be in the Hewitt chapter) how Marinaro loved to fish wingless skaters for the Eastern Green Drake. I think this indicates the importance of a tall wing to Marinaro rather than a distinct separate wing..

[Byron haugh]

Here's one of his quill winged thorax duns

[NJTroutbum]

Here are a few thoughts. without trying to derail this thread any further than already done.

In the beginning (for a fly tyer)...tie the patterns you "can" tie accurately depending on your skill level, and whatever style you feel you want to try either on the bench or the water. If wings give you a problem...tie without them for the water, but strive on the bench to master them. You'll still catch fish. Try them all, since learning techniques is part of the journey. All techniques out there are there for a reason. They caught fish for somebody. Let time determine for you which ones will best fit your water and fishing style.

All flies, in all books, end up there because the author or individual contributing found it to work for them on a particular water or hatch. None of them however, regardless of who it is that says it or ties it, makes any other pattern or technique less effective or useful. It simply adds another "option" to the tying world.

Catskill patterns catch fish, thorax styles catch fish, CDC , snowshoe hair, No-hackle, Parachutes, Comparaduns, etc etc.....all catch fish. And if anybody says any of them don't, its not because they know something the rest of us don't. Its because they either seldom-if-ever tie it or fish it themselves. Or, they simply prefer another style for whatever good reason they have.

On any given day or over any given hatch, a particular pattern may surface as "the best". However....then comes tomorrow.

Ralph

[NJTroutbum]

Here's one of his quill winged thorax duns

Byron...I'm a huge fan of the thorax style pattern myself. But I tie them all with a turkey flat post.

Ralph

[Byron haugh]

Steven,
How would one interpret this quote from Valla's book?:

"Marinaro wrote compellingly that a dry fly's wing was of paramount importance in pattern design: "for the wing, its height and breadth and flatness, is the most important part of a floating dun!"



NJ
Here's my attempt at a thorax dun style using turkey flats. Probably not the best example though.

[NJTroutbum]

That would be it.

[Steven]

Steven,
How would one interpret this quote from Valla's book?:

"Marinaro wrote compellingly that a dry fly's wing was of paramount importance in pattern design: "for the wing, its height and breadth and flatness, is the most important part of a floating dun!"



NJ
Here's my attempt at a thorax dun style using turkey flats. Probably not the best example though.

Same way you would. Such a wing was necessary in the context of a thorax dun.

Yet, why wasn't it necessary for the skater?

Remember, the thorax dun was as much about its supposed footprint on the water as it was about the wing. How in the world could Marinaro possibly have a hackle wing in the context of his thorax dun? To sit right, the hackle was always going to be relatively undersized.

[Byron haugh]

".........That the dry fly's wing was of paramount importance....."

M. Valla

[Tig]

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