I am completely frustrated trying to find truly “mottled” turkey wing feathers for Muddler wings. All of the catalogs that show pictures of their product actually show striped, or barred, secondary feathers. I have been told that the truly mottled ones are from a particular strain of bird and are getting hard to find. The shortage of the mottled ones must be correct because I’ve seen photo printed feathers for sale as substitutes but I don’t recall the source. Can anyone please suggest some sources for mottled feathers. For me the striped ones are useless. Thanks.
You can use peacock secondary for the wings. Looks great, and easy to tie.
Cheers,
C.
Hi Ray,
Stoneriver Outfitters has what appears to be what your looking for. They are mottled oak turkey wing quills by the pair. MANY places try to sell the Ozark pairs that are barred by the same name, but they’re not even close. Wapsi is a major supplier of these, and if you do a quick search on Google, you can see a picture of them at their website. I bought the best pair that I have from a local Dick’s Sporting Goods shop more than ten years ago now. They don’t carry much, if any fly tying materials anymore, but the pair that I have were from Wapsi. Here’s the link to the item at Stone Rivers.
http://www.stoneriveroutfitters.com/browse.cfm/select-turkey-wing-quills-1pr/4,1330.html
Regards,
Mark
they look nice in my hair.
Ray,
I understand if you’re tying “classic’ flies for a display, but for 'fishing”, my best advise is to just use a substitute.
In far to may cases, too many of us get hung up on believing that we have to exactly follow a pattern recipe, when in actuallity in most cases, substituting one or more materials usually make little difference to the fish.
Bowfin47
The availability of these seems to be cyclical. There have been times that flyshop racks have been full of them and other times you can’t find a pair anywhere.
These feathers are one of those things that it’s best to buy in person if possible. The markings and darkness vary considerably. But you may have to take your chances.
Ray, during the last two years I changed the original Mottled Turkey for Indian Hen Brown feathers. It works! And is a lot easier to tie. I add a drop of glue on the base of the feathers (and first fibers close to the hook shank) to keep them together. Good option in my case.
Hi Ray,
I used to get some white turkey feathers that have stain or paint spots spattered on them, which were from Hook and Hackle. They weren’t too bad, but I don’t know if they still carry them.
I have also sent you a private message over the FAOL private message system. If you don’t get the message, post a note, and I will send you a snail mail message. Sometime I would like to get your Email address, because I know you have had trouble with the private message system.
Regards,
Gandolf