wing cases

nfrechet

nfrechet

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Mar 14, 2013
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wing cases can be made from just about any kind of feather to synthetic materials.

one natural material that is not always thought about as a wing case material is the BIOT. yes, the biot(s) can be used as a wing case. for smaller flies 1 biot is generally enough. on larger flies you can tie in multiple biots to get the wing case effect.

BiotWingCase_zpsae480b54.jpg


biots are less likely to split like feather fiber wing cases

you could even add flash over the biot to make a flashback style wing case

use different color biots

use a fluorescent colored biots as a hot spot

be creative. experiment.

thanks for looking
 
Swiss straw works very well for wing cases.
 
I will occasionally use peacock herl as a wing case on hare's ears. Has a nice subtle shine to it.

That biot idea looks good as well
 
I tie an olive nymph with two biots pulled over butting in the middle, it gives a nice effect of the case splitting open. That's a nice looking tie Nf.
 
That's a great tip Norm! Biots have many uses, and dry fly bodies are probably the worst.
Mike.
 
I'd like to hear more detail on your thoughts on its none use for dries if you would Mike. Inquisitive minds want to know. :)
 
lv2nymph wrote:
I'd like to hear more detail on your thoughts on its none use for dries if you would Mike. Inquisitive minds want to know. :)

In my opinion they are a pain to tie with and don't taper well. They do provide segmentation, but its subtle when you tie flue down, and flue up puts protruding gill like ridges on the fly which look unnatural. I'm convinced that the body on a dun is of little importance, so dubbing or a stripped quill is usually good enough for me.
Biots can actually make some pretty nice upright divided wings though.
Mike.
 
Thanks
 
FrequentTyer wrote:
In my opinion they are a pain to tie with
I'm surprised to say that I disagree with something you have posted.
They can be very easy to tie with, if you set it all up beforehand.

FrequentTyer wrote:
and don't taper well. They do provide segmentation, but its subtle when you tie flue down

IMGP0113_zpsbddc8da1.jpg


Um, I guess I disagree with what you said there, too.

FrequentTyer wrote:
and flue up puts protruding gill like ridges on the fly which look unnatural.

IMGP0108_zpsa3cf6f04.jpg


Sorry, but again, I disagree with that statement.

What does everybody else think?

Sorry about the hijack
 
Well,I did say it is my opinion ;-) While I was writing about duns, your pictures actually illustrate my points (in my opinion), although you might have flue up/down reversed.
Nice ties GC!
Mike.
Edit, I took a closer look and picture 2 is flue up and you can see the gill-like protrusions. Picture 2 looks like it started flue up and then switched to overlapping.
 
Nice. I just stocked up on biots - both turkey and goose - to use for nymph and dry fly bodies. Hadn't thought to use them for wing cases. Or dry fly wings, for that matter.

@frequenttyer: how would you tie them in as wings? By the tip or the base?

 
This video from Bruce Derington shows the winging technique.
I apologize for derailing this wing case thread to dry fly wings. They really do make nice wing cases. I might try biots for the case on my sulphur nymphs next time I get some vise time.
Mike.
 
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