Alternative wing material

[stockiebashersLtd]

The standard wet fly wing material, it seems, for dark wings is mallard blues

I'm not a massive fan of these, and prefer whatever it is that i saw on a bibio. It's like a fine hair/fur. Can anyone shed light on what it is, or give any ideas of good materials to use instead of blues?

I've only been tying wets recently as it wasn't until last season i started using them very frequently, so i'm not sure about fine winging materials. I have a big case full of such materials, which i have never used, just not the one i bloody want!

thanks for any help

[doobrysnatcher]

i use lots of different winging materials what are you trinin to tie?

---------- Post added at 03:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 AM ----------

can u post a pic so we can see?

[Chris Reeves]

I have used black Rabbit as a wet fly wing with some success especially on something like a small viva, however it does look a bit bulky and gathers lots of water. You need to remove all of the underfur to get any mobility. I only use it when I want a fly that stands out in murky water.
If you don't want to use a traditional feather wing then you could consider using marabou, tied in with the fine ends pinched out to make it a little stiffer.
Presumably you don't like blue mallard as it is a bit soft to work with , have you tried rolling or folding the wing?
Mink also makes a nice mobile wing, again if you remove a lot of the underfur you get a better effect

Cheers

[midlander]

Originally Posted by stockiebashersLtd

The standard wet fly wing material, it seems, for dark wings is mallard blues

Crow or indeed magpie would be my first choices for a dark feather wing. If you're after a hair wing with movement then Steve....or maybe even Chris's suggestion of rabbit is perfect. You could also try squirrel tail but that's a much stiffer material and IMO unsuitable for small fly wings. You could also use marabou or marabou tips or even hackle fibres from a schlappen hackle depending on fly size.

[Chris Reeves]

Steve??? Steve Reeves was the original Superman, your showing your age there old fruit!

[midlander]

Let's face it, I've lost it. Not long awoke Chris, sorry.

[seiont]

at my local lake during summer there are some canadian goose, they leave good feathers at the bank, I use those for tying wings on some of my seatrout flies