Wet Flies - Pairing Quill Wings?

[goodfortune]

I'm trying my hand at tying wet flies, using duck quill for the wings. I'm having trouble with pairing up the wings, so that thier edges are even with each other, before tying them in.

Are there any tricks to pairing-up the wings properly before tying them in? Also, does duck quill need to be sprayed or treated (like turkey quill), or do you use them without any treatment?

Thanks as always everyone

 

[RLeep2]

Pairing is easier if the wings sections are pre treated with a fixative of some sort. Durability also benefits, although very few wings last more than a few fish before beginning to split into sections, even when sprayed/treated.

Pairing/tying in wet fly wings well can be tricky and take some practice. If you can master the pinch of the wing sections in place and the loose loop with the thread that can be pulled snug the instant the sections are in the alignment you're trying to achieve, you're wings will come out looking better.

But this is one of the trickier things to learn in tying (or was for me at least) and can take a while.

In the meantime, from a practical standpoint, it doesn't matter to the fish if the sections are slightly out of alignment or if one is a 32nd longer than the other. It also doesn't matter to the fish if you use your scissors to correct any of this. It doesn't even matter to the fish if you opt to use a single quill section for the wing and bypass this matching stuff altogether and simplify the whole thing.

But it does matter in terms of the satisfaction we can take from becoming better tiers. How much this part of it matters compared to whether your flies catch fish is up to you. Everybody's different. It doesn't matter that much to me. A lot of my flies look like they were tied by committee or by a guy with a strip of duct tape over one eye. That's OK and acceptable to me so long as they catch fish.

 

[beadhead2]

Get a hold of Don Bastian's DVD ,(Tying Classic Wet Flies)
I think you can buy it on his web site

 

[RLeep2]

Good call. There's nobody better to learn this from than Don.

He's one of the best tiers as well as one of the best fishermen I've ever met.

 

[osprey]

goodfortune...............howdy , was nice meeting you at the jam , if you look back aways in the fly tying catagory , festus has a tool he made from what i think was a compass , it looks like it would work real good , maybe you could PM him for some extra advice , by the way , THANKS FOR THE TURKEY FEATHERS FESTUS.