Do wings really matter on hackled dry flies?
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Re: Do wings really matter on hackled dry flies?
#21Based on many, many years of fishing dry flies, I believe that wings matter. I think of a fly as an entity possessed of a range of triggers such as size, colour, shape and posture or balance on, or within, the meniscus. If one of those triggers presents as a negative to the trout then it will not take with avidity. So, by way of illustration, if trying to imitate caddis a white post or wings provides an incentive rather than a disincentive. However, if the representation is a dun, white for the wings or post can be a real turn off (CDC makes a great post for a dun tie). I very rarely fish a standard hackled fly with wings these days, I much prefer a parachute tie with a single post and I like the post to deport vertically on the water, well supported by the hackle. Unfortunately I am a fussy bugger when it comes to flies.
Last edited by PT48 on 04/12/21 17:58, edited 1 time in total.
- Norm Frechette
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Re: Do wings really matter on hackled dry flies?
#23I cant speculate one way or another
what goes through the brain the size of a pea?
what goes through the brain the size of a pea?
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Re: Do wings really matter on hackled dry flies?
#24The great thing about this topic is that everybody has an opinion but nobody knows for sure. We try to explain why fish seem to be so selective at times but all of us have had trout hit strike indicators or flies that were dragging in the water with the rod held between our legs.
Bernd Heinrich (for those of you not familiar with him, he is a biologist who studies animal behavior, focusing on ravens) was once asked how ravens behave. His response was "I would ask in return, which particular raven, of what sex, at what time of year, of what age and in what circumstance? I get the journal Animal Behavior, and in many of the studies the data points on a graph of a particular behavior look like someone shot a shotgun at the graph paper. There is so much individual variability.
My personal opinion is that wings matter sometimes, and do not matter other times. Given my track record on the stream, I'm just as likely to be wrong about this as right. I do suspect, though, that what we perceive as being important to a trout when we do things like don scuba gear and film stuff underwater might have very little to do with what is really motivating the trout.
Bernd Heinrich (for those of you not familiar with him, he is a biologist who studies animal behavior, focusing on ravens) was once asked how ravens behave. His response was "I would ask in return, which particular raven, of what sex, at what time of year, of what age and in what circumstance? I get the journal Animal Behavior, and in many of the studies the data points on a graph of a particular behavior look like someone shot a shotgun at the graph paper. There is so much individual variability.
My personal opinion is that wings matter sometimes, and do not matter other times. Given my track record on the stream, I'm just as likely to be wrong about this as right. I do suspect, though, that what we perceive as being important to a trout when we do things like don scuba gear and film stuff underwater might have very little to do with what is really motivating the trout.
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Re: Do wings really matter on hackled dry flies?
#25I asked a Trout one day if wings matter. The Trout snickered at me and swam away.
Re: Do wings really matter on hackled dry flies?
#26It depends. Opportunistic fish, no. More discerning fish, yes it can. The wing is a prominent part of a mayfly so under some circumstances a winged hackled dry fly will outperform one without a wing. The wing also helps balance the fly.