Spey Wings - Right and Left?

[vanislealoha]

Tieing up some spey flies for the first time. Here is a pic of my second one ever. It is a variant of a purple Haze Spey as the hackle is lighter than the recipe calls for.



I am still unsure if I am putting the wings on correctly as I cant figure out what the right and left bronze mallard feathers are and what is the right and left side of the fly?

Here is a pic of two opposite Bronze Mallard Wings. Which one is the right or left in the picture? Then when referring to the picture of my fly what is the right or left side (near of far side)?

[phearless]

The wings should curve towards each other.
On your fly, eye to the right, near side is right.

So that means your feathers are sitting corerectly.
The right hand feather will be for the near or right side of your fly.

When you cut the slips for your wings, the taper will be longer on the bottom.

Oh ya, when you cut the wings leave them attached to the quill for tying in.
Watch how much easier it is.

I highly recommend getting a couple of good books, or taking a course. Even better is to find someone who ties these and buy them a beer once in awhile to tie with them.

John Shewey Spee and Dee flies
John Shewey Steelhead Flies
Bob Verveka Dee and Spey flies

There are many good books out there.
Read then tie.
Go to the sportsman shows and watch the masters.
Very eye opening.

Your flies are looking good.

[vanislealoha]

Good timing. I'm working on my third listening to some hockey. Detroit - Penguins.

Thanks for that info.

The salesperson at Robinsons also told me to strip the wings off keeping some of the quill on the ends to help keep the wing material together. It is definately a good tip as I have to tie them on several times before I think I have them right and they would probably come apart without that little bit of quill.

[phearless]

Was that Matt you were talking to?
He is an incredible tier.
One of out best local guys I would say.
Check out all his patterns at Fly H2O

[vanislealoha]

Not sure but the name sounds familiar. I will definatey be finding out if he is that good. He mentioned if I was having trouble with the wings to come in and he would help me out.

I found a picture of how the wings curve towards each other.

[eimaj]

The John Shewey spey and dee sly book is great for all sorts of techniques, you can also stroke the flies to get them to join together. For patterns like Lady Caroline you want them to look like a solid piece after.

[SalaR]

Not sure but the name sounds familiar. I will definatey be finding out if he is that good. He mentioned if I was having trouble with the wings to come in and he would help me out.

I found a picture of how the wings curve towards each other.

Matt is a very good tier for sure...his trout flies are second to none...if you can get him to iron out some difficulties do so...
C

[vanislealoha]

Just out of curiosity how well do these wings hold up while fishing. They seem pretty fragile as I just ruined my best one and I was unable to massage the wing material back together to form a nice solid wing.

[phearless]

The wing are actually quite strong.
It depends on several factors.

Quality of the feather. Good feathers hold together better. This goes back to our material selection thread.

How the feather was tied in. If there are creases in the feather when it was tied in, it will split more quickly.

Casting ability. If you hit the ground behind, or play crack the whip with your flies,well.......

Number of fish caught. The more fish caught = spit wing quicker

By the way, the fly will fish fine with the wing a bit messy. They just need to start out nice for us.

Check out my Bronze Knight in the gallery. It has been fished. Slightly split but still looks pretty good. I don't think the fish will disapprove.

Keep at it. I am looking forward to a classic spey one day

[vanislealoha]

I received another good tip when using bronze mallard for wings...

You should only use slips from the lower part of the feather and tie them in around the grey part of the slip near to the quill otherwise the fibers are more likely to pull apart.