Catskill style dry fly wings?

[chstrcntyfish]

So I'm just getting ready to attempt some hatch matching flies for the upcoming season. I am going to tie some comparaduns, but I also want to try some catskill style dry flies just because they seem to be the "traditional way to fish dries so I figured I might as well attempt some. My question is about wings. I just want to learn a basic pattern and be able to change the dubbing color to match different mayflies. What should I use for wings. I have read several different things, duck flank, hen hackle tips, and just regular hackle tips. What should I buy? I just want to tie some of the more basic mayflies, BWO's, maybe sulphurs, and what else? I planned on buying just dun colored hackle. So what should I use for wings, and what should colors should I tie? I plan on buying hooks from size 14 up to 20 and I have assorted superfine dubbing.

 

[tomgamber]

Use all of the above for wings...For Adams which is one of my favorite flies I use grizzly hackle tips. For hendricksons and march browns and some others I use mallard flank. Others you can use deer hair calf tail some synthetic you come across that seems like it might make nice wings.

If I were you (and I was at a certain point in the past) I would buy Grizzly, dun, and brown hackle in the 100 pks they sell at Cabelas. I just looked and they sell a sample in ...guess what?..dun, griz and brown...cool!

The only down side to buying the 100 pks is you don't get any tips...but if you have an older neck you use for buggers you might already have enough hackle to steal tips from...

I'd get them in size 14 and 18...while the hackles might be a little over or under sized, it'll cover you from 12s to 20s...

mallard flank is cheap.

I would tie BWOs, Adam, Wulffs, sulfers and maybe cahills...everything else is a color variation...

To be truthful, when I lived in Idaho, I tied three flies olive, brown and gray bodied mayflies in sizes 16 thru 12...i just varied the hackle and wing color...they were all basically an Adams in different colors...you have to be a little more specific (plus its more fun) here in PA you but could go that route if you get really good at one pattern. Hope that helps...

 

[dryflyguy]

If you have never tied mayflies before, I recommend starting off with a cahill - the mallard flank is quite easy to tie with IMO.
I use turkey flats for all my gray mayfly wings. dark gray for BWO, blue quill, hendrickson etc. light gray for sulphers.

 

[MKern]

Mallard flank is the most popular, versitile, easy to tie, and durable out of the natural materials. It comes in all kinds of colors.
Hackle tips aren't the easiest things to work with, especially for a beginner. It's versitle becuase it can be matched with any dubbing color.

Now for parachutes -- that's requires totally different wing material (IMO), but can be tied with mallard.

 

[chstrcntyfish]

I think I am just going to start with one fly. I think a little BWO would be the best choice because of the timing. I plan to use dun colored hackle fibers for the tail, mallard flank for the wings,superfine dubbing, and dun colored hackle. How does that sound?

Also, I'm buying materials for CDC comparaduns that I will just use different colors of dubbing to imitate different flies.

 

[chstrcntyfish]

Ok, just ordered $97.00 worth of GOODS from feathercraft. I am starting to think fly tying won't be cheaper than buying my own flies.........

 

[shakey]

yeah,but when that box from st.louie comes,it is like xmas to a little kid.any time of year.bob and ed storey will do you right.

now when it comes to catskill ties,we should probably consult sandfly.he said in another thread he actually knew the darbees and the dettes.don't know if he knows joe fox yet.

 

[tomgamber]

You only need to tie 100 to break even...

 

[MKern]

Tom,
Where are you getting flies for 97 cents?

Around here $1.50 is the cheapest I've ever seen.

chstrcntyfish,
If you got into fly tying to save money, you will surely be disapointed. An item at $2 doesn't sound bad, but when you buy it in every color and now need special hooks, and extra fly boxes to store all your flies that you'll never use anyway......

 

[MKern]

chstrcntyfish,

If I use mallard flank for BWO wings, I use dun or bronzed dyed feathers. Just so ya know, but it's preference -- though BWO definately don't have bright yellow wings.

 

[tomgamber]

Some guys pay full price and some guys buy online...a buck is a nice round figure to shoot for..especially when, like you pointed out, you probably won't be saving a ton of money...

 

[chstrcntyfish]

I was sort of in a jam. There are so many things I could have used for wings I just picked one. I hope it looks ok, but if I have to change the wings it was only a 2 dollar loss.

 

[JackM]

I use sparrow, robin, grackle, duck.... whatever feather I find walking the stream or my back yard. They are mostly gray and black.

 

[tomgamber]

Nothing a sharpie can't fix either...

 

[chstrcntyfish]

Well, I'm not that picky.....yet. Besides, I have never officially caught a trout on a dry fly, so my confidence is low with them.

 

[Bruno]

I love the Sharpie

 

[fly_flinger]

bruno,
been listening to a lot of Garcia lately? I noticed the old and in the way lyric the other day and now I need a miracle, good man. you've inspired me to listen to some stuff I haven't in a while. thanks man.