HI: Anyone know where to obtain gray turkey quills for wings on Ray Bergman’s Beeman, Caughlan, etc. wet flies Thanks!
buy white ones and dye them up!
try asking here
Normand… Thanks A Lot For The Info. Troutnet
Well two things comes to mind, to go the easier way, I would second Norman’s input. Now if you want to go a harder way, then you will need to look at paired Ozark & Mottled Brown Turkey wings. There is a natural gray in the turkey wing. If you look closely you will see sections of gray throught out the wings. This is the gray that would have been used. You physically need to inspect the wings and see if enough gray is in them to warrent you buying them. Since I tye a ton of wet flies I usually buy the wings period. Now keep in mind not every pair of wings has gray in them. Lastly it all boils down to the effect that you are striving for when tying the Bergman patterns. Now it is true that Doctor Burke who painted the plates for Trout and With Fly Plug & Bait and Just fishing was very detail oriented. However after further investigations, I sometimes wonder if that was just so. The reason I say this, look at the plates and then look at the patterns. The materials that are called for in some cases do not match the plate painting. An example of this would be the Fontinalis Fin. The plate is shown with White over black over orange for the wing and the pattern calls for white over gray over orange. Also, look at the Walker, the plate shows a black stripe but the pattern calls for gray turkey. I can point out a lot more issues as well.
Andy Brasko
Fontinalis: Thank you. You are right about gray in some of the wings. What I’m looking for would be those type of quills. Not the solid color. I assume the pointer quills are not what you are talking about. You are correct there are a lot of discrepancies with the plates and the recipes. However in this case I believe the mottled gray or whatever is the right stuff.Thanks again TROUTNET
do any of these fit the bill?
http://www.feathersmc.com/products/show/Heritage%20Turkey%20Tails
Halomidge: that’s it thank you. Not sure if the have any of the gray stuff but will find out. It’s amozing how many shades and types of turkey there are. You hit it on the head. Thanks again TROUTNET
would wing feathers from a pheasant work? they might be easier to get.
Hugefish 80: I don’t think the pheasant wing feathers would work. However, Halomidge put me on the right track. Thanks TROUTNET
If all else fails, marry black and white and wait.:rolleyes:
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Seriously, I would second halomidge’s suggestion. I have bought turkey feathers from feathersmc. You will find cheapers ones, but you won’t find better ones.
CM Stewart I did that and the feather turned solid gray . Probably used too much black.I went on that site and found that they were not in stock. Don’t know how long it takes to replenish the gray, but I will wait. Never did business with him before. Does he take checks, or credit cards ?Thanks TROUTNET
I bought with a credit card. Don’t know if he takes checks.
C M Stewart Thanks TROUTNET