I would like to know if any one ties and uses these Great looking fly wings. I was told that above size 16 these flies spin unless you use heavy leader. IF any one has any experience would you please let me know so I don’t waste my time tying some. They look like they should have a good profile.
john
Hi John - Are you aka Caddisman1 ?
If you ever come across it, the book “Tricos” by Bob Miller has quite an extensive section on tying wonder wings. Bob ties a wonder wing trico that is spectacular. There’s no way I’m gonna tie wonder wings on a trico for a fish with a brain the size of a pea. I think those wings are more to catch fishermen than fish, but they sure look neat. Bob agrees with me on this. They do spin like the devil when you cast them. I made some wonder wing sulphur spinners once. While they worked, they were tough to see in dim light, and didn’t seem to work any better than poly wing spinners. There is info on how to tie wonder wings in the Fly Tier’s Benchside Reference by Leeson & Schollmeyer. YMMV…Ed
If you tie some, be sure that you don’t bind down the stems. Al Beatty ties his Muddle May with them, with only the feather’s fibers tied down. Not so stiff, and less likely to spin.
Chuck
You might also tie your wonder wings with CDC - I haven’t tried it, but went out with a guide that showed us some and said they worked well.
Hi Ed
Yupe thats me , thanks for the imfo.
John aka caddisman1or JAD
News to me - although I don’t remember if I’ve ever fished them in larger than a size 16. Maybe a 14, but no higher - there’s not much need to go bigger where I fish.
Don’t really know why they would spin though. Air can easily get through the wings.
I do follow Al Beatty’s suggestion and do not tie the stem down.
I love the looks of Wonder Wings. Great profile and they stay big and full even when wet (unlike hackle tips and bundled fibers). Downside is that they are a bit more fragile.
Plus, you can tie a Wonder Wing parachute style. I have a lot of confidence in this design.
My advice is to tie one up in a size 10, and see what happens.
Edited to add:
According to Leeson and Schollmeyer -
Reverse-hackle wings yield a conspicuous, well-shaped silhouette and nicely suggest the patterns of venation found in real mayfly wings. Because the wings are affixed by the barb tips–not by the stem–they flex during casting to help minimize tippet twist and mount with little bulk. The style is quite versatile and can be used on patterns dressed with standard collar hackles, parachute hackles, or thorax hackles. The wings are suitable to a wide range of hook sizes and are simpler to tie than their appearance may suggest. As a general rule, these wings are moderately durable–not as sturdy as feather-tip wings, but tougher than reverse half-hackle wings.
Hi John,
I fish “looped” Wonder Wings down to size 22 with no more problems than any other wings at that size. If I remember right there is an article that Gretchen and I wrote about that wing style somewhere in the Archive section of FAOL. Take care & …
Tight Lines - Al Beatty
www.btsflyfishing.com
Best wing going. Learn to tie them when you are young then they will become your wing of choice. They hold up better than anything else, ever! Never had one spin. l Leader material, length and proportions would control if one did though.
Wonderwing tied on a size 32. http://www1.odn.ne.jp/bambriarsilk/myfly2003.htm
Scroll about 2/3 down the page.
I wouldn’t be able to see it, let alone tie it.
(The size 26 ants look pretty good, too!)
seems to me like a size 32 would straighten out on a minnow! haha prolly not but looks that way.
For my 2 cents worth, I’ve been tying Wally Wings in place of Wonder Wings. Do a quick search on this site for “Wally Wing” and you’ll find a great tutorial by none other than Wally Lutz… the innovative tier who popularized the wings. Some advantages are that they only require a single feather and the center stem is removed to make them even lighter. I use them on spinners, duns, and even posted up for parachutes.
Fixer
aka Bruce C