Dry fly styles

[jeremymcon]

I've been tying dry flies for a while now, and while I an reasonably proficient at tying parachutes, hackle flies (mayfly imitations with no wing), and elk hair/poly wing caddis, but my classic style mayfly duns are still a little rough. I think it may be partly because I don't really understand the different styles of classic dry fly.

For "catskill" style dry flies it's basically hackle fiber tail, dubbed body, two defined wings, hackle wrapped in touching wraps on top of a thread base on the front of the hook, right? Is there a standard winging material? I know mallard flank is popular. Hen hackles? Turkey flats?

Which brings me to the "thorax" style dries. These have hackle fiber tails too, usually split, dubbed body, a single wing made from a turkey flat feather, and hackle that is wrapped in somewhat looser wraps over top of a dubbed thorax.

When tying the wings from Turkey flats, do most tyers cut the fibers off of the stem? Or should the stem be used as part of the wing? My first attempt at using turkey flats occurred just recently and my initial thought was to use them kind of like your use mallard flank - cut the stem out leaving a "V" shape, tie the feather in below the cutout then pull the feather back until the wings are the right length.

Sorry to put so many questions in one post!

 

[McSneek]

Catskill style flies are often winged with wood duck flank. Because wood duck is pretty expensive you can get away with mallard flank dyed wood duck. Hen hackle tips are probably a close second especially for a traditional Adams (grizzly) or a sulphur pattern (light dun).

Standard thorax style flies use a turkey flat for the wing but you can substitute other materials for the wing IMO. When I tie these I usually am just using the tips of the feather do to fly size so I don't usually need to cut anything.

Part of the thorax style of fly also has to do with the way the hackle is tied in. As you said, not really touching wraps and often you cut a "V" out of the underside hackle so the fly sits lower in the water. There are also methods to kind of "X" wrap the hackle to achieve the same effect.

Lot of questions Jeremy but it seems to me that you know what you're doing.

 

[Coughlin]

I almost exclusively tie parachutes. /they seem the best way to capture leggy stuff beneath the meniscus and emerged insect. Not saying the Catskill fly isn't in my box, just don't seem to go to it anymore.