First off, I need to start with a caveat. I am a huge
fan of Ray Bergman. He was directly responsible for
firing my enthusiasm and love of the sport of fly
fishing when I was young. I loved his books, and read
everything of his that I could get my hands on. That
said, I've always had a problem with the cookie-cutter
wet flies depicted in his book Trout. Even
as a kid I remember thinking "Why do all those flies
look exactly the same?" Well, the naked truth was,
they didn't. They look the same in Trout,
but in reality, many of those wet flies didn't have the
cookie-cutter look of the ones in Trout,
and possibly the best examples are the two Wilson flies
shown there, The Wilson, and The Wilson Ant.
The Wilson series of flies included The Wilson, Wilson Ant,
Wilson's Mormon Girl, Wilson's Red Ant, Wilson's Trout Fly,
Wilson's Trout Killer, and I'm sure many more patterns with
the Wilson wing. This wing was NOT the typical wet fly wing
made of two matching quill sections, concave sides together,
tied as a single vertical "fin" on the hook. The Wilson wing
was quite unique, in that it was made from a single breast
feather, usually teal, sometimes brown mallard, tied with
the concave side UP! This gave the fly a vibrating
action as it was worked through the water. You can imagine
how intriguing this could be to a fish.
Back to Ray Bergman for a second. He has the recipes for
these flies more or less correctly noted, but the depictions
of the flies on Plate 9 are simply wrong. J. Edson Leonard
correctly notes the single wing in Flies, but
makes no mention of how it is tied in. To the rescue of all
concerned comes fly historian Terry Hellekson's 1976 book
Popular Fly Patterns. Perhaps it has something
to do with the book's being published in by a Salt Lake City,
Utah publishing company, but he gives the Wilson flies their
full due. Here's what he has to say about them:
"The Wilson patterns have become a legend among
many of the old time flyfishers and they are still just
as effective as they were some decades ago when they were
first tied. They were originated by a fly-tyer named Wilson
from North Ogden, Utah. These flies are as remarkable as
their originator who had but one arm. Their wing is tied
with the concave side up which gives them an unusual
vibrating action when worked through the water."
In Ray Bergman's defense, I should note that communications
in 1938 were not what they are today, and if he had just
been sent recipes for these flies, he would have made a
logical assumption that they were typical wets. Typical
they are not however, in fact, they are quite unique. I'm
sure the same winging technique could be used to great
effect today. I'm surprised this one was almost lost to history.
Here are the recipes:
Wilson
Hook: Mustad wet fly 3906 or 3999
Thread: Orange.
Body: Dubbed orange synthetic fur or yarn.
Hackle: Orange.
Wing: One green winged teal breast feather with
A single dot in it. Tie with concave up.
Wilson Ant
Hook: Mustad wet fly 3906 or 3999.
Thread: Brown.
Body: Dubbed brown synthetic fur or yarn, with peacock herl butt.
Hackle: Brown.
Wing: One brown duck breast feather tied with concave up.
Wilson's Mormon Girl
Hook: Mustad wet fly 3906 or 3999.
Thread: Gray.
Tip: Red floss.
Body: Yellow floss.
Hackle: Grizzly.
Wing: One gray duck shoulder feather tied with
concave up.
Wilson's Red Ant
Hook: Mustad wet fly 3906 or 3999.
Thread: Black.
Body: Red floss.
Tip: Red floss.
Tail: Three peacock sword fibers.
Wilson's Trout Fly
Hook: Mustad wet fly 3906 or 3999.
Thread: Black.
Tip: Red floss.
Ribbing: Red thread.
Body: Peacock herl.
Hackle: Ginger.
Wing: One green winged teal breast feather with a
single dot in it. Tie with concave up.
Wilson's Trout Killer
Hook: Mustad wet fly 3906 or 3999.
Thread: Yellow.
Tip: Red floss.
Ribbing: Peacock herl.
Body: Yellow floss. Reverse wrap the body with fine
gold wire.
Hackle: Grizzly.
Wing: One green winged teal breast feather with
a single dot in it. Tie with concave up.
Credits:
Popular Fly Patterns by Terry Hellekson ~ Eric Austin
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