I am in need of some Gray Mallard flank feathers. I prefer bold barring, with strong feathering. I prefer the feather to have a little more bold barring than this one, but of about the same color. If anyone knows where I can get some, I would appreciate a comment, or pm on this. I plan to use them for streamers, and wet flies too. I would also like to buy within the US if possible.
Here are a few links showing similar feathers to what I would like to acquire.
Do you mean Teal? I meant bold barring, not darker. I do love Teal, and have a little bit of that. But some flies call for Gray Mallard. I have seen it spelled Grey Mallard though. I showed pictures of what I was referring to.
Here’s the one issue that eveyone is not thinking about on this request. The wing on the wet fly you tyed is indeed tyed with Mallard Flank, now here is the issue. The wing on the wet fly is tyed with a matched pair of of mallard flank meaning left and right. When you buy bulk Mallard flank you have to sort through all the feathers to find left’s and rights and then you have to pair them. The issue is that you do not get that many left’s and right’s from a large size of mallard flank. A lot of the tyers that tye wet flies for show an the other site used paired Mallard Flank for there wings and buy them through on line fly shops. Then there are people like me that actually spend hours of sorting large amounts of flank feather to try and find left’s and rights. Now moving forwaord I have went with a rolled feather approach (English Style) that make a beautiful wing but does not look like the one in you picture. I hope this has jelped a bit. Lastly those pretty wings made with lefts and rights are not that durable at all and are ruined on the first cast ot two. The rolled wing is extremely durable and last the entire life of the fly. That is what is different between the tyers that only know how to tye the wet flies and people like me that know how to fish with them. I can tye them pretty but have switched my attitude and understanding that the rolled wings are very pretty and dudrable and the markings of the flank feathers stand out.
Fontinalis, We would be delighted to have a fly of the week using the rolled method - of course with the method for doing it! Actually, I’d be thrilled!
Hugs,
LadyFisher
I do not know what a “rolled wing” even looks like. I would love to see at least a picture of it. Regardless of the method used, I still need some gray mallard. I can sort through them, and match as necessary. I also plan to use these on streamers too. Thanks for replying, this is very interesting to me.
That is way I do most of fliesnow the with rolled wings and I also been experimenting with flat wings which I found gives a erratic swim to streamers when retrieved in short strips.
I buy a in bulk and go through it but it sure can take a lot of time and test your patience. Beside I couldnt care it is so pretty cause the ugly ones are whatdrives the fish explode on the them!
