Al & Gretchen Beatty, thank you for your wonderful “Wonder Wings”, this weeks “Fly of the Week”! At first glance, I just thought it was someone re-naming the “Wally Wing”.
As I read deeper into the article, I started to understand this new concept, to improve and completely change the “Wally Wing” method (what has be a benchside method for me).
I will now be doing “Wonder Wing” instead of “Wally Wings”.
Thank you so much for sharing this idea…
~ Parnelli
Down in the bottom of the Itty Bitty Pool.
Swam Three Little Fishies, and a Mommy Fishy too.
“Swim”, said the Mommy Fishy, “Swim if you can!”
And they, swam swam, all over the Dam.
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 09 May 2005).]
I had seen that wing technique used in a fly-tying contest several years ago and immediately fell in love with them. They are super easy to tie and look great.
Thanks Al and Gretchen for your recent magazine article and FOTW on wonderwings, the tips are handy.
In the Benchside Reference they are referred to as Reverse Hackle Wings I believe.
They make beautiful wings that retain their width when wet/ginked, which is why I appreciate them so much. They are also easy to make and, as noted, you can make more than one pair from the same two feathers.
Downside (and it’s a small one) is that I have found that trout can really chew 'em up (even with dabbing a little head cement on top). I carry a pair of tying scissors - if the top fiber(s) break away from the stem, I just cut it (them) off. The wing may be a little shorter, but it still retains its width.
The Wonder Wing method is a great way of tying split wing paraduns. They are just gorgeous.
Al, after seeing the FOTW, I remembered an article I pasted into a scrapbook I made as a kid. It was “The Wonder Wing” by William J. Goldring, with a side article by Ray Bergman. It was in Outdoor Life, April 1953. After I scan it, I’ll email it to you and ask you to please post it to this thread, as I’m not sure if I understand how posting pics work. Thanks. I think the fellers will enjoy a little history.
I fly fish the salt because the voices in my head tell me to…
[This message has been edited by LadyFisher (edited 09 May 2005).]
Not sure how new this concept is, but that’s one beautiful fly. Thanks Al and Gretchen, we’re fortunate to have you helping here. I do some Wally Wings, and did Wonder Wings about 10 years ago on some blue quills. They work well, and I was surprised at how well they held up, but then, I didn’t catch any big ones back then.
Eric
In reading the nice responses on the Wonder Wing, I am not too sure that everybody read fully Al and Gretchen’s article, as they did something a bit different to the wing to make it more flexible. If one just looks at the pictures, one may not notice what they have done to “improve” or at the very least “change” the technique.
We tie the modified Wonder Wing with just about any feather. Of course we use large cape hackles as illustrated in the FOTW. We also use hen, pardridge, and pheasant. A peacock body feather makes a real interesting wing and mallard flank produces a great calibatius <spelling?> wing. Take care & …
Tight Lines - Al Beatty [url=http://www.btsflyfishing.com:36fed]www.btsflyfishing.com[/url:36fed]
I thought that tip was especially helpfull for larger quilled feathers. Since I don’t normally tie small flies the quill size and affect it has on the aerodynamics of the fly is not normally an issue for me…and I have lots of left over hackle tips. Being the scrounging, tinsel hoarding flytier that I am, I was happy to see a solution to my pile of ziplocs.
(at least a partial solution that is.
Thanks again for passing along some great tips Al.
Thanks for the response. I was fooling around with this technique last night and after about three tries I was getting wings that looked like the ones in the FOTW pictures. Thanks for helping me add another skill to my tying repertoire.
