FLYMPH FORUM

Ray

You asked for more, so here goes.

Bob

Quite a few years ago, I was able to get some dyed starling wings from Ellis Slater in England with quite a few other dyed starling and snipe wings as subs for some of the old hackles, including dyed yellow and orange starling wings.

Here's the Pritt dressing and a couple pics of the fly using the dyed wings. As a note, when an old dressing specifies "orange" silk, I use Pearsall Gossamer 6a silk. I use the 19 hot orange only when a dressing calls for hot orange.

35. DOTTEREL.
HOOK – No. 1
WINGS – Hackled with a feather from the outside of a male Dotterel's wing.
BODY – Straw-coloured silk; some anglers prefer Orange silk.
HEAD – Straw-coloured or orange silk.

Well done. I think either of these would be considered an acceptable representation, although personally I prefer the bottom pair with hackle of slightly "softer" (muted) coloration. FWIW, I agree about the use of 6a vs 19.

Do you still have the starling wings? If so, would you mind posting a picture of them?

I find the coloration of the hackle on the lower set of flies. The dun list, near the head of the fly is lovely.

Edmonds and Lee offer a substitute.

No. 17.
Dotterel.
EPHEMERIDiE.
Hook 1.
Wings.—Hackled with a light-tipped fawnish feather from the marginal coverts or lesser coverts of a Dotterel's wing.
Body.—Orange silk, No. 6, or primrose yellow silk, No. 3.
Head.—Orange silk, or primrose yellow silk.

If the Dotterel feather is unobtainable a feather from the under coverts of a young Starling's wing makes a fair substitute.

Middle of May to end of Season.

letumgo wrote: ↑Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:31 am Do you still have the starling wings? If so, would you mind posting a picture of them?

I find the coloration of the hackle on the lower set of flies. The dun list, near the head of the fly is lovely.

Ray

Yes, I do still have the dyed wings. Earlier today, I thought that I'd take some pics of the Ellis Slater dyed wings and post them for others' reference.

I thought that I posted pics of the dyed starling wings....but did they disappear?

joaniebo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 10, 2018 10:18 am I thought that I posted pics of the dyed starling wings....but did they disappear?

Yes, nowhere to be seen. Maybe confiscated by the 'feather police' if they looked like the real thing?

dd

That's weird. Maybe Ray knows .... ?

Found it...I forgot they were moved to the section about Soft Hackle Materials ....look for "Ellis Slater Hackle Subs."

joaniebo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 10, 2018 2:18 pm Found it...I forgot they were moved to the section about Soft Hackle Materials ....look for "Ellis Slater Hackle Subs."

Oh yeah ...

joaniebo,

Would you mind if I move these posts over the the Soft Hackle Material section of the forum? These additions would be a good fit with the reference photos for different materials.

It's nice to see suitable substitutions for the hard to find materials.
Ray (letumgo)----<°))))))><