Tips for dry fly wings?

[drumat26]

I sat at my tying bench for a few hours last night trying to tie some dries for something to do. I was trying to tie some adams dries. However I found myself getting rather frustrating trying to tie in the wings. I was using small hackle tips as wings. I was finding it hard to keep the wings where I wanted them and then getting them to stand in place. Any tips? or will it just come with practice and patience?

 

[afishinado]

Here is a really good video on how to tie an Adams. Tying in the wings just takes a little practice.

http://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/fly-tying-videos/dry-flies/743-adams-dry-fly

 

[Tiogadog]

Are you using a "pinch" wrap to lock the hackle tips in place on top of the hook?

My more blunt suggestion would be to just tie parachutes.

 

[MKern]

Definitely not the easiest wings to tie.

They do take a fair amount of practice.

One thing that makes it easier is to not use the tip, use further down and cut or burn to wing shape. The thicker stem helps.

I do think this is the perfect scenario when the wings tip might mean more to the tier than the fish.

Natural mallard flank is a good substitute, but parachutes would be my alternative.

 

[blueheron]

You will get better with practice, try tying them in with just a few wraps and you'll find that you can manipulate them into place. You'll be great after several dozen, I prefer dun hen tips for that style of wing over the thicker burnt type wing.

 

[outsider]

Practice is what it takes with the thin grizzly hackle wings for the Adams - they can be the most frustrating wings to tie on a fly. Although I am a proponent of burned wings, that really deviates from the original intent of this particular pattern.

You can dumb it down by eliminating the wings altogether. Over the decades I fished, I found it doesn't really matter if they have wings. The thin wings tend to blend in with the hackle. Note that I only tie this pattern in size 16 and 18. The larger the fly, the more pronounced everything is.

 

[dryflyguy]

Hackle tip wings can be frustrating to tie.
I quit using them all together, and started using gray turkey flats - split and divided - for all of my gray winged flies.
A lot easier to work with - and they work!

 

[SteveG]

+1 for the turkey flats. Although I often omit wings on smaller ones, or use a short hi-vis post.

 

[nfrechet]

practice your wings like charlie craven

use grizzly hen feathers for the wing. skinny feathers not good for wings

learn the winging technique BEFORE eliminating it altogether

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=56

 

[GenCon]

nfrechet wrote:
practice your wings like charlie craven

use grizzly hen feathers for the wing. skinny feathers not good for wings

learn the winging technique BEFORE eliminating it altogether

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=56

I agree with this completely. Although wings may not be that important on the smaller sizes. I just like to do them. I like the way they look, for me. Learning to add wings of any type just adds to your skill level. I believe it helps build confidence. I think confidence is the key.

GenCon

 

[J55tyger88]

+1^

 

[outsider]

dryflyguy wrote:
Hackle tip wings can be frustrating to tie.
I quit using them all together, and started using gray turkey flats - split and divided - for all of my gray winged flies.
A lot easier to work with - and they work!

I tie some of my flies with turkey flats, but I do not split and divide into two separate wings. Actually, everyone I know of (including photos posted online) don't divide them. And when you see mayfly duns floating on the water, their wings are upright and together - they look like miniature sailboats.

dryflyguy, please don't take what I wrote the wrong way. We all like our own ties. But it would easier for the novice tier to form a single clump for a wing.

But the Adams pattern is one fly which is tied with separate thin grizzly hackle point wings. You can deviate from this any way you want, but if you want to tie the original Adams dry fly, this is the correct way. Look in any catalog, any fly shop that sells Adams, and this is what you will find (some, but not many sell a fan-wing Adams).

I prefer cut wings (formed with a wing burner)) for my dry flies such a Hendrickson, Sulphur, etc. They are easy to tie, even for the novice. Again, I do not separate the wings. They remain centered and upright.

 

[drumat26]

Thanks everybody for your info and advice. I'll keep at it. I always appreciate the help and tips of others. I'll try some of there above mentioned techniques and let everyone know how it goes.

 

[dryflyguy]

outsider -

Whether or not a tyer decides to make a clump wing - or a divided wing - is a personal choice.
I still like to put a divided wing on all of my mayfly imitations. They just look better to me! And that is kinda important - the old confidence thing, you know.

To me, tying a divided wing is not very hard - except with hackle tips of course.
When I took my tying class - way back in 1984 now - the first dry we tied was a light cahill, with divided mallard flank wings. Just tie in a clump of the mallard flank, split it in half with a bodkin, then figure eight it twice to separate. And you can easily do the same thing with turkey flats for gray winged mayflies. No big deal IMO.

 

[outsider]

dryflyguy, I totally understand the confidence thing in your flies. I just got the feeling that the OP may not have a lot of experience adding wings to a dry fly. My perspective was start with a single wing type to build up confidence for the next step: splitting wings. Hope I did not offend you with my post.

 

[dryflyguy]

Nah - just stating my opinion.

BTW - another good material for dry fly wings, is calf hair. People seem to think of it as being used only for wulff attractor flies.
But I like to use it dyed in various shades for mayfly imitations.
Lighter gray for sulpher wings - dark gray for iso's, BWO's, etc. Yellow for green drakes
Easy to work with and very durable

 

[FrequentTyer]

Calf hair is a great suggestion, and I think tying Wullf's is the best way to learn the basics of winging. It is an art, but anyone can become a wing artist with a bit of practice. Yeah you can leave them off or tie a parachute and catch fish, but then again you can buy a spinner and catch fish. A tyer should be able to tie wings upright and divided from flank feathers, hackle tips, quills (I still struggle with those) and hair.
There are two practical reasons to include wings. First, they are the first detail that a fish could see as the fly floats into the fish's vision window. Many believe that this represents an important trigger. Personally, I don't think it matters for this point if the wings are divided, and on smaller flies I agree you can do without the wings because the hackle will to some extent provide a wing-like profile. If I'm using a light dun or ginger hackle, I will try to use a darker shade or a barred/grizzly version on the smaller sizes to add a bit more substance to the hackle to compensate for the lack of wing. The second reason to include wings is that they help "****" the fly as it is falling and increase the likelihood of the fly landing correctly. This is historically why the upright divided wing developed. And here you have to look at a balance between the properties of the winging material and the degree of separation. An upright undivided calf tail wing will not likely land properly because it will be top-heavy. Divide the wings and they act as airfoils to **** the fly as it falls. Cut/burnt wings or hen tips add a lot less top weight and the divide can be less or none. So I divide hair wings and flank feather wings (wood duck, teal, etc). I don't divide hackle tips or quills, but I post them so their natural curvature provides some separation.
Of course there are no rights or wrongs and in the end it comes down to personal choice. But keep in mind that you can only choose to not do something that you can actually do. If you never learn to tie wings, you can not choose to leave them off.
Mike.

 

[DGC]

We discussed wulff winging and this video a while back. I checked and the video is still there. If you look at the playlist below it, the next video shows Talleur using hen hackle tips to wing a dry fly.

Talleur Wulff Style Winging


These are old school object lessons in tying.

Caveat. Note the hackling technique does not have the advantage of today's super saddles where there is far less waste from a feather. But for less dense hackles, his suggestions remain relevant.

Personally, I don't like hen hackle tip wings. They look great on the vise, but mat too much on the water. Burnt wings would solve that to some extent, but that is another topic and I don't do burnt wings.

 

[outsider]

Just for kicks, I tied a few 16 and 18 flies with grizzly tail (light color with minimum barring), yellow body, and grizzly hackle (no wings). Just an experiment to see how they work during a Sulphur hatch.

And all of you are correct in that the OP should be encouraged to master divided wings. So here is another twist: I believe most people tie their wings forward before they pull them upright (correct?). I do the opposite, always found it easier for me. How about you?

 

[McSneek]

outsider wrote:
I believe most people tie their wings forward before they pull them upright (correct?). I do the opposite, always found it easier for me. How about you?

I think I'm doing it like you with hen hackle tip wings. May have seen the method in Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference. Not sure. Tie wings down with butts facing towards eye. Bend wings to upright position. Move thread behind wing and tie down some of the stray fibers at the base to help lock in place. Figure 8 if desired.

If tying hair wings, using a turkey flat, etc, I still tie in with the butt towards bend.