I never had luck using feather tips for the wings on dry flies until recently. For Christmas I asked Santa for a copy of the Flytyers Benchside Reference, and I must of been a good boy because Santa delivered! I read the section on using feather
tips and shaping feathers with toenail clippers…tried it, and for the first time tied some traditional Adams! They ARE prettier than my Adams with antron wings! (But probably harder
to see on the water).
So tonight after work I made a few sets of wings using wood duck and partridge body feathers. The curvature made the wings more difficult
to make, but I was able to come up with usable wings. I like the different patterns possible by using these feathers…mottled, speckled, veined.
How do you make your feather tip wings? Does anyone have any tricks or tips on what to do or use, and what NOT to do or use? I really want to avoid making pretty but unusable flies (like those that twist
tippets). I tie mostly in size 14 and 16.
Anyone have any advise on wing burner sets? Has anyone made their own?
Thanks in advance for any advise. This is such a great site, I drop in almost daily!
I have been playing around with Whiting’s Brahma hen capes and Whiting CDL Hen capes. The Brahma are badger capes and come in dyed colors. I just like the look of the black bar in the center. The CDL hen are also mostly badger but have speckled colors too. I have just found they make wonderful looking flies.
We use hackle tip wings for a number of things here in the shop, Adams, Sulphurs, Blue Quills, Spend Wings Coffins, and even on spent wing or delta wings caddis. They are ok overall, good rooster is better then hen but finding rounded rooster in smaller sizes is harder then it once was. They are a little weak vs a woodduck wing fly, but still stronger then a quill wing. Just keep in the back of your head the not all necks make good wings, some will just be very hard to work with and seem to never sit right. Chances are it is the cape not you, try others till you find a good one and then mark it.
Joe
Benchside Reference is a great book and Charlie Craven’s site is, too. My favorite for learning how to tie in hackle tip wings, though, is A.K. Best’s Production Flytying.
Buddy, in this case I have to say that I’m tying the fly for me, too, not just the fish. My antron wing Adams are easy enough to see and catch fish just fine. It was my favosite “go to” fly last year.
And probably will be this year, too!
But I couldn’t tie this style before. A combination of poor skills and poor materials! But when that first fly came off the vise the other night I was suprised at how easy it was! (That was with using a hen hackle tip.) Then I had to try it with a cut feather. You know how it is sometimes… :lol:
The fly was beautiful! And that’s all that matters at times. 8)
But I won’t stop making perfectly useful flies with antron wings… in fact I made some using yellow, waterproofed indicator yarn for wings!
And thanks Lady…I’ll look in the Tying Tips section.