wet fly tying question

[urbanangler]

this is a question for davy

i was reading dave hughes "wet flies: tying and fishing soft hackles, winged and wingless wets, and fuzzy nymphs"

in his winged wet fly tying section, he argues for tying stacked hackle fibers that he has rolled into a bunch for the wings of his wet flies. he says that he finds they fish better then traditional quill wings on his wets.

just want to know your thoughts on that arguement?

thanks

[Davyfly]

Dave spent some time with me last year, all be it not read it as yet l understand in this issue of Fly rod and reel there is article he wrote about his time fishing with me.
I would not agree with that Dave said so far as comparisons between a traditional winged fly or otherwise for each will be seen differently by the fish.
Given the time l had with Dave l know know that his experience fishing solid style winged wets had been limited, for a couple of reasons, being able to buy them and also tie them.
That somewhat changed when he fished with many of the traditional style patterns l use.

Saying that, l am not saying that wings formed by other means cannot produce a effective fly as l know they do, l use some myself.

Davy.

[Soft-hackle]

Hi,
I love both winged and wingless wets and fish them both. The thing about quill sections is they generally break apart and look like stacked wings after a while. Both types work. My personal preference, though, is wingless wets because they are so versatile. Like Leisenring I catch more fish on flies tied hackle-wise than with an those with wings. Just my take on it.

Mark

[Soft-hackle]

Would like to know why we can no longer edit our posts? I make typos.

Mark

[Davyfly]

Soft hackle, do you not have a spell check, l would not worry if l were you, you should read some of the posts on other forums, how some of those guys pass exams is beyond me.

Mark. Question. Do you tie your wings with a up or down swept profile.
I do form my wings in a way l know no other doe's. As you know many of the old UK style flies used very delicate wing fiber, such as woodcock, partridge tail, grouse tail, poultry hen quill, Psant winf quill.
I know from tying many of these flies commercially that the position the fiber is taken from is very important if there is going to be some long term structure of the wings.
I would also add further that today we do tend to subject flies to more abuse than in older times when bamboo rods were used, a much slower casting stroke, compared to what we are able to do with modern rods and line.

But l do take your point, hackled flies, particularly palmered have great value.

Davy

[Soft-hackle]

Hi Davy,
I usually tie them up swept.



I often like to use game bird quill wings for these flies-pheasant, grouse, etc. I often think the softer quills hold together better than do those of stiffer quality.

Mark

[Archer 414]

Very clean tie Soft-hackle. That is a very nice wet fly.

[Davyfly]

Mark,

Same here, nice fly, that would be my top dropper for sure, l would probably add a gold rib, not a caddis eating trout gonna refuse that one.

Davy.