tying wet flies

[evw659]

I've been tying for a little more than a year and can tie almost everything fairly easily..... except winged wet flies. the wings take up too much room near the eye, flip over when i wrap, or the individual wing fibers separate, giving me a mess. Is there a special technique to tying wings on traditional wets?

 

[gfen]

The pinch wrap.

Thumb and forefinger grip materials on top of fly, you may be willing to play with slightly off to a side to work with thread torque, although the pinch wrap shouldn't neccessitate it.

Pull thread UP, through fingers, over wings.
Pull thread DOWN, through fingers.
Cinch tight.
Lather, rinse repeat.

 

[FrequentTyer]

There is another method that is basically a way to support the wings front and back while the thread collapses the feather to the hook. It is doing the same thing that Gfen suggests with the pinch wrap, but with some additional support to help avoid twisting. i think I first saw this in AK Best's production tying book. It is nearly impossible to describe and I don't know of any videos, but here are a couple of web pages that do an okay job of illustrating:
http://home.earthlink.net/~magfly/wings.htm
http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/tying/feather-slip-wing/

Don't give up on this and substitute rolled wings or some other method. It is not that they don't all work fine, but you'll be happier if you master the skill.

 

[beadhead2]

EVW
See if this video helps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7akiUJmLXM&feature=related
http://www.flyfishohio.com/Katydid.htm
http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showforum=70

 

[beadhead2]

Here is another video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF3BWHLMSXU

 

[jayL]

I put 'em on one at a time, because I usually figure stuff out on my own and stick with it until instructed otherwise. Place the wing on the far side, wrap 2 or 3 times to secure, then install the second.

I also hit my wings with very light coatings of flexament sometimes.

 

[jayL]

Edit: oops. Meant to append this to the post above.

Anyway, I am not a good wet fly tyer by any means, and I rarely do it. The only other tip I can offer is that wet flies are meant to have heads, so the thread build up at the eye isn't necessarily a problem. As with all fly tying, you should be able to verbally justify every wrap. If you can't justify it, you are just adding bulk.

 

[gfen]

jayL wrote:
I also hit my wings with very light coatings of flexament sometimes.

I've tried Flexament, and I'm left with the impression its more of a PITA than it was worth. Now its a near solid mass. $5 wasted bucks.

For quill wings, 3M Sprayable Fixative is the stuff. Its in the same area as mounting supplies, and you're supposed to spray it onto things to help fix them for mounting. Its just about right for this.

 

[jayL]

Good call. I've only used the smallest dab of flexament before. It probably didn't even make a difference, but I felt I could work with the wings a little easier.

Also, goose seems to be the easiest to work with for me.

 

[gfen]

Downside to the Fixative if you'll want to spray it outside, you'll also hit the whole feather. Its not too shabby for things like wing cases, too, as it keeps them from splitting when you fold them over.

 

[buffalo7]

gfen wrote:

jayL wrote:
I also hit my wings with very light coatings of flexament sometimes.

I've tried Flexament, and I'm left with the impression its more of a PITA than it was worth. Now its a near solid mass. $5 wasted bucks.

For quill wings, 3M Sprayable Fixative is the stuff. Its in the same area as mounting supplies, and you're supposed to spray it onto things to help fix them for mounting. Its just about right for this.

The brand I have is called Flex-Seal, I use it on wings and wing cases. I had the bottle for a long time, I put a little laquer thinner in it once in a while. I think I bought this at Gander Mountain and the Orvis shop nearest to me has it also.

 

[buffalo7]

gfen wrote:

jayL wrote:
I also hit my wings with very light coatings of flexament sometimes.

I've tried Flexament, and I'm left with the impression its more of a PITA than it was worth. Now its a near solid mass. $5 wasted bucks.

For quill wings, 3M Sprayable Fixative is the stuff. Its in the same area as mounting supplies, and you're supposed to spray it onto things to help fix them for mounting. Its just about right for this.

gfen,
If you remember back a ways, you were talking about watershed and photo flo, I mentioned about 3m lableing the same products for diferent uses, what I used for mounting photos is 3m Photo Mount, I guess thats the same thing you are talking about and I still have some. They also labeled it for wall paper repair, car headliner repair and most likely other things. Thats some tacky stuff, I wouldn't wont to get it on my hands when I was Spraying it.

 

[barrybarry]

For wings that separate, go with the flex seal or flex cement. No need to pay the big bucks or breathe 3M Spray mount. Coat both sides of the feather one time, let dry and your good to go. Helps with nymph cases as well.

 

[tobewan77]

i generally don't bother with the traditional style wings. I'll take clumps and tie it in almost like a stack of deer hair. Usually one fish will do that to the traditional wing anyway. They never hold their shape after one decent fish, at least for me in the past. I don't think the fish mind.

 

[evw659]

Thanks for the help everybody. I applied some of the methods that you guys suggested and here is what i produced. comments welcome.



]wet flies[/url]

 

[buffalo7]

They all look nice, I like the bottom right one the most, looks like a good brookie fly.

 

[Sockman]

Thanks for the pics. Nice flies, and those wings look pretty good to me.