Classic Salmon Fly Tutorial - Preparing Wood Duck & Teal sides.

[wingman]

Another quickie SBS this time for preparing Wood Duck and Teal sides ready for tying in. You'll see in a lot of dressings (particularly Pryce-Tannatt ones) that it asks for Wood Duck & Teal sides to be married. The following SBS is one way of doing it but there's also another way (I'll hopefully add it here at some point) using the feathers tied in slips tips up rather than tips down which is shown here but it's a bit trickier so hopefully this way you'll find of benefit if you're just getting into Classic's. It's not mandatory in tying Classic's but it does give the sides a more appealing look and will improve the look of the wing while offering that extra little test for your skill set. Have fun!

Yellow Doctor showing Barred Wood Duck & Pintail sides (option for Teal) applied using above method. Notice the barring on the feathers matching up with the angle of the end of the wing and the black bar on the tippets
which gives the wing more uniformity. Also a mirroring effect with the ribs and hackles creates some interplay and gives
the fly more balance. Does it matter to the fish? probably not but it's these little 'tricks' that give the fly that little something extra
and ultimately a test for the tiers skills.

​

 

[tj hooker]

Very useful Mark I’ve done a few sides now and there getting there everyone a bit better than the last I’ve been using barred Mandarin the black barring seems a lot deeper at least on mine is the preference to use Wood Duck or does it matter.

 

[iainmortimer]

Thanks Mark that's a really useful guide and a beautiful fly!

 

[wingman]

Very useful Mark I’ve done a few sides now and there getting there everyone a bit better than the last I’ve been using barred Mandarin the black barring seems a lot deeper at least on mine is the preference to use Wood Duck or does it matter.

Thanks Grahame yes they'd be ok very similar where did you get them from if you don't mind me asking? curious as to how similar they'd be to work with to the Wood Duck. I think the less you mess about with them when tying in the better, hopefully they behave and tie in on first or second time.

Thanks Mark that's a really useful guide and a beautiful fly!

Thanks Iain pleased you find it useful, it's not rocket science but I tended to waste loads of Wood Duck and Teal when I first started so this way will hopefully save you some hassle

 

[tj hooker]

Hi Mark I got the Mandarin off Steve copper so you couldn’t fault the quality he just didn’t have the wood duck when I was looking it but I’ll soon need more I think the black Bar on the tip is definitely deeper and the white bar less than the wood Duck it’s getting them tied in with a bit of an angle that they look best I think .talking about the never ending search for materials where is the best place to source bustard I’ve asked Steve a few times but to no luck I’ve seen some ridicules prices on eBay and the like I was thinking of ordering some stuff off feathers Mc but I don’t think they can send it out of the US just wondering have u delt with John and if so how did it go he seems to have a great range of stuff just a bit of a leap dealing out of the US .

 

[wingman]

Hi Mark I got the Mandarin off Steve copper so you couldn’t fault the quality he just didn’t have the wood duck when I was looking it but I’ll soon need more I think the black Bar on the tip is definitely deeper and the white bar less than the wood Duck it’s getting them tied in with a bit of an angle that they look best I think .talking about the never ending search for materials where is the best place to source bustard I’ve asked Steve a few times but to no luck I’ve seen some ridicules prices on eBay and the like I was thinking of ordering some stuff off feathers Mc but I don’t think they can send it out of the US just wondering have u delt with John and if so how did it go he seems to have a great range of stuff just a bit of a leap dealing out of the US .

Yes Steve told me it was difficult to get the Wood Duck at certain times of the year so it depends when the supply increases I suppose. The Bustard crisis or what I call 'the hard problem' (nothing to do with consciousness BTW) is a bit of a pain for us over the other side of the pond. John McLain as you probably know has that Bustard program thing going on so he basically gives the feathers away for nothing but we won't get any of them. I'm just relying on what are basically scraps of feathers I picked up from a few tiers over here trading for flies or other materials. Considering it's in a lot of dressings so you're going to get through it at some point. I only ever ordered off Feathersmc the once and obviously he can only send certain things out here but the stuff I got was really nice quality.

 

[m r roid]

Nice one, thanks for the SBS Mark

 

[wingman]

Nice one, thanks for the SBS Mark

Thanks Kev.

 

[baca157]

Thanks Mark. Do you always tie them tips down? Even with married wings where the main wing is tied tips up? I always though they should be tied tips up like the main wing. No wonder I never get them shaped nicely...

will try them tips up next time!

Cheers,
Sebastian

 

[wingman]

Thanks Mark. Do you always tie them tips down? Even with married wings where the main wing is tied tips up? I always though they should be tied tips up like the main wing. No wonder I never get them shaped nicely...

will try them tips up next time!

Cheers,
Sebastian

No I think I might have mentioned this before Sebastian that if the hook is larger than 2/0 or rather 3/0 upwards I tie the fly as a married wing tips up and 2/0 and smaller I tie as tips down. Generally once you get up to a size 3/0 tippet in strands becomes difficult because you can't get the strands long enough unless you have really big tippets so they're tied as paired tippets. There's nothing to stop you using tips down with paired tippets though but I find tips up works better on larger flies for some reason, well for me anyway and probably because I'm conditioned to tying larger flies tips up. But certainly I can see the likes of Black Dog's, McIntyre's etc on larger hooks being better suited to tips down so worth trying both ways. I think you get a much nicer gentler curve at the front of the wing with tips down and easier to set the topping over than that humpy effect of a tips up wing because tips down goes with the natural curve of the feather.