One of my goals is to learn how to tie those feather wing style wet flies, for no particular reason other than I think they look cool.

I've known the basic technique for a while, but have never taken the time to really work on doing it. So, I decided it was time learn. I picked the Block House pattern to start with since it was a basic design and I could focus on learning the set the wing and I thought I already had the materials. Turned out that I didn't and I think I learned more about picking quality feathers than I did setting the wings. The only red feathers that I could find were poor at best. I was trying to avoid placing an order for higher quality and more expensive feathers and that turned out to be a mistake.

When I've tried tying these before, I've struggled with the wings folding on me. Well, those demons are still around. I get a little better, but I still have a long way to go.

I am not at all happy with these results, but I've spent so much time working on them that I might as post them.

So, how do you learn a new technique? Tie a bunch of them, of course! (The ones on the right at the "test cases" where I'm trying to decide how to tie the rest of them.)



The easy part is done..



Well they're all done...



Finished product. Not really happy with it, but it gives me a baseline to build on.


Block House:

Rex, they look fine to me. I bet I could catch a lot of gills on them. Throw one under one of my foam bugs and I bet I could pick up a few more doubles, lol. They are 100% better than what I could tie.

Thanks, being consistent from fly to fly is killing me.

But, I agree, bluegill should love them anyway.

you'll catch some bass on that one! nice job-p-

Rex, couple of things. First, use goose shoulder for your wings, you don't need the high dollar stuff, what Barlow's sells works just fine. Second and I don't know if you're doing this but lighten up on the thread pressure. It's not deer hair. Next,
wings fold, get over it. Don't use smaller than a size 8 to start. Practice your grip, make sure you have complete control of your wing during the first 2 wraps and make sure that your wing stays on top of the hook oh, and make sure the your first 2 wraps are captured between your fingers and the wing.

Oh, and it looks like your mounting the wings upside down. Go to Davie McPhails youtube and search for wet fly's.

Other than that you're off to a great start and those look really good.

Here's some pics of fly's that I fish for gills and small bass as I only fish creeks up here. As you can see some are pretty well beaten up because they work so well.




so well.

No freaking idea as to why these are all upside down. I'm sure it's operator error and these are just crappy cell phone pics so forgive the poor quality.

Well if the wings are upside down that could be part of the problem.

The only red feathers Barlow' s had on hand were very "frayed" along the edges. It made it difficult to get wings that didn't split. I should have kept looking for red feathers...

Rex, I should back up a minute here. I normally don't post pictures and I do apologize for them being upside down. These were some flies I pulled out of my box that didn't have shoulders or sides attached to give you a view of the tie in point of the wing. It also shows how the wing sets(lays)on the hook. I can't explain how to set your wing in words but can promise you it's really not the difficult but at the same time is easy to screw up.

I'll look in some other boxes I put away at the end of trout season to see if I can find my box with true winged wets. The ones with duck quill all are "folded" at the tie in point. If not I'll take some 8 & 10 hooks and tie on a wing for you.

I'm only trying to help here, not show off.

You said "red feathers". What kind? You should be looking at Goose Shoulder, duck quill or turkey quill if you are trying for a true winged wet. If I'm off base here please just say so cause I'm looking at what I think you're trying to do while not really knowing.

This is like troubleshooting casting issues without seeing the cast.

Sorry, I was referring to the wings on my flies being upside down being part of my problem. I was not referring to your pictures. I appreciate the help. I'm slowly learning.

I am impressed with your flies. They are in much better shape than I thought they would be after being fished. They are tougher than they look.

Yes, I am using goose shoulder feathers. I already had a half dozen or so colors, but when I got ready to tie these flies, red was not one of those colors. (That's the story of my life, I'm always missing one of the materials needed to tie the pattern I want to tie. Anyone else ever have that problem?)

The only package of red colored feathers I could find locally was much lower quality than my other feathers. The edges were more webby and frayed looking. The tips were not married well to themselves and the wings had a tendency to split from the tips down after the wings were set. Very frustrating to have that happen at that point in the process. I'll get a picture of one of the feathers and it will make more sense. I knew the feathers were poor when I got them, but I thought I would be able to work around the bad spots. I learned my lesson and will be more selective in the future. I do know a whole lot more about selecting good materials after this exercise.

Again thanks for the help. I do appreciate the comments.

Rex
Nice job on the flies.

Les