Hi Iain / Paul,
The material Iain used for the wing of his flies is very similar to a product that Davy Wotton introduced at one of the "Partridge Tying Days" many years ago. He had a ball of synthetic yarn and cut a small section off and tied a fly he called a "Dun Wing Dun". The fly did not have a hackle and he said the fly fished much better by not having a hackle. Several of us who attended the demo day got a sample of this yarn from Davy to take home and tie a few flies with. I liked the flies and I bought more yarn from him when he started to sell it in his shop. I will dig out a packed and post a photo of it.
The big thing that Davy was stressing with this fly was the fact that the fly floated in the film rather than on it, the fly is only suitable for the smoother glides and calmer streams, it will get swamped in the very rough water. The thing that impressed me about this fly was how easy it was to loose your fly in a hatch, (therefore very similar to the natural), providing you don't take your eye off the fly when you cast above a fish it is ok.
The fly is a very quick tie and if you loose a dozen when fishing on branches etc, it is no big deal to fill the spaces in your box, all in all a great no nonsense fly.
Since Davy sold up and moved to the USA, I have not seen Dun Wing Yarn for sale in the UK, you can use Poly Yarn, the TMC Aero Yarn would be great and the new Trigger Point fibres also work well. I hate the hanks Trigger Point fibres come in but that is just me. Not user friendly in my opinion.
If Iain can't get his camera sorted, I could post a rough step by step, though I would rather defer to Iain if he can get his camera sorted.
I tend to use grey squirrel body fur dubbing for the thorax and pick it out well, it is a 3 or 4 minute fly at most and can be tied in the smallest sizes very easily.
Just a great pattern.
I will find out if it is possible to post the original article that Davy had published in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying here as it gives a good background to the fly.
Kev.
