Using Mallard Wings

[ZydecoGirl 0]

I have a pair of full mallard wings but I am not sure how to get started using them -- do I need to match feathers? which feathers are useful? do they have special names etc? Any help would be appreciated. Any suggestions on patterns to try?

 

ZG

[rockworm 0]

IMHO all flytyers should have at least one pair of mallard wings!

 

You can use the primaries and secondaries for the wings on classical wet flies. When making the wings you want to use a matched pair of feathers (one from the right and one from the left wing.) The primaries are the large, asymmetric feathers that extend out from the end of the wing. The secondaries are below the primaries (closer to the body) and are softer, more rounded, and less asymmetrical than the primaries. (The blues and the barred feathers are secondaries.) There are beautiful feathers on the shoulders as well, including bronze and silver feathers, useful for salmon fly wings, hornbergs, etc. There are also some very small round feathers laying flat over the "knuckle: of the wing. These are marginal covert feathers and make dandy collars on soft-hackle flies.

 

Some tyers remove all the feathers from the wings, using wire or glue to hold matching pairs together, and sorting the rest by size and location (marginal coverts, greater coverts, lesser coverts, shoulder, secondaries, ...) I prefer to leave mine on the wings until I need them.

 

 

[redietz 0]

I have a pair of full mallard wings but I am not sure how to get started using them -- do I need to match feathers? which feathers are useful? do they have special names etc? Any help would be appreciated. Any suggestions on patterns to try?

 

ZG

 

Yes, you do want matched feather, one from each wing. They should be the same feather from each wing as well (i.e. match the first primary with the first primary). The flight feathers - primaries and secondaries are the ones used for wings on both wet flies and dry flies. The primaries are the long feathers in the back of the wing toward the end of the wings (on the "forearms); the secondaries are the ones in the back of the wing toward the shoulder.

 

When you match a pair of feathers, it's useful to tape the two together, leading edge to leading edge. (This leaves the part you actually use -- the trailing edge -- on the outside.) You might also want to cut some of the quill of.

 

The most easily used part of the trailing edge is the middle thirds or so. The bottom third has the wrong texture, the top third is too short and tends to be square on the end. You might want to cut the bottom third (or quarter) off to make the useful part easier to accesss.

 

The following assumes you're tying a wet fly:

You're going to be cutting one slip from each trailing edge that's about as wide as 3/4 of the hook gap. Cut one slip from each feather. Make sure each is the same width; you can always remove a few barbs from one if you cut it wider than the other by using the point of your needle. You put the slips back to back, and make sure the tips line up before putting them on the fly. What back-to-back means is up to you; you can put the shiny sides or the dull sides together, depending on whether you want the wings to be flat or to curve out. Mount the wings with the pinch/soft wrap technique.

 

A good first fly to try for a quill wing wet is a Leadwing Coachman. You don't spend a lot of time constructing the body, so if the wings don't come out as you want them to (the first one won't, I practically guarantee) you haven't wasted a lot of time. Plus, the LWC is a good all-round fly; works great for panfish as well as trout. The only down side to that pattern is that it doesn't have a tail, which makes judging the length of the wing a bit harder. The normal length of the wing is to the mid-point of the tail. Just pretend the fly has a tail and that it's about the length of the hook shank to judge how long to make the wings.

 

Good luck!

 

I'm sure there were points I didn't make clear there; please ask if I didn't.