White Wing, "The Hunter" strip wing My wife was unpacking a box from the move (we moved in 2002) the other day and found a bunch of my fishing books. Trout & Salmon Flies of Scotland by Stan Headley was one of the books. Thumbing through the book brought back some very fond memories of Scotland. I bought the book and a bunch of flies in a small fishing shop in Oban. Later that same day I landed my first Atlantic salmon on the River Awe. The book is full of great patterns. It was published in 1997 so it s not real old school but it does have some real classics mixed in with some newer ties. There are tons of shrimp patterns, some full dress classics, a bunch of tubes and Waddington s, and flies tied on doubles and trebles, as well as a full selection of trout flies in the book. It is definitely a book worth having on the shelf. The Whitewing caught my eye as I was perusing the section on salmon and sea-trout flies. I think this pattern might just work on the Sauk. Have fun with this one and thanks for looking.
Taken from the book: Whitewing (featherwing) Hook: Singles and doubles 4-10 (I tied it on a Blue Heron #2) Silk: Black (I used black Danville 6/0) Tag: Fine oval silver Tail: G.P. crest/topping and tipper strands Body: in two halves: rear red seal s fur, veiled with red ibis substitute; front black seal s fur. Rib: Oval silver Hackle: Black cock wound over front half of body Throat: Blue cock Wing: Strips of white swan, set horizontally Head: Black The Whitewing is one of the most successful of the featherwing patterns still in use today. The correct name for this fly is The Hunter and it was originally devised for use on the Tay. It is now strongly associated with the Tweed and is often used on this river when the light starts to fade in the evening.
Begin by securing the tying thread at the start of the bend of the hook. Secure in a length of fine oval tinsel. Wrap the thread down the bend trapping the tinsel as you go. Stop winding when the desired length for the tag is achieved. Carefully wrap the tinsel back up the bend trapping the tying thread as you go. This keeps the bulk down by not adding a second layer of thread as your return to the starting point. Secure in a crest for the tail and top it with strands of tippet. You get a totally different look by using the barbs (strands) compared to the whole feather.
Wrap the tying thread to the mid joint and secure in a length of oval tinsel and a length of red silk floss. Wrap the floss back to the tail joint trapping the ribbing as you go. Make sure to cover the black thread at the tail. Tie a knot in the floss about 6 down from the hook to form a dubbing loop. Load the loop with dubbing and give it a spin. Dub the fist half of the body and secure.
Bring the rib forward making four turns, then veil the top and bottom with red ibis substitute. Keep the tag ends of the feathers and the ribbing long.
At the mid joint secure in a black hackle followed by a length of oval tinsel. Make a dubbing loop with the tying thread and secure. Wrap the thread forward trapping the tag ends of the ibis feathers, rear ribbing, the tip of the black hackle and tag end of the front ribbing. This will keep the body symmetrical. When the thread reaches the return clip all the tag ends and make the transition onto the return. Load the loop with dubbing and give it a spin. Bring the dubbing forward followed by four turns of ribbing.
Tie in a blue hackle for the throat. When using a saddle I fold the barbs on the stem so both sides are facing in the same direction. With all the barbs pointing back to the bend make a number of turns with the hackle. Work all of the barb so they are on the bottom half of the hook. You might have to pluck a few on top. While pinching the barbs against the hook while making two turns over the top of the hackle stem on a 45 degree angle. This will help hold the throat hackles in place. In the book they call this a feather wing. I personally would classify this fly as a strip wing. But then there are only two flies in the book that have full feather for winging. So my guess would be flies using hair are hair wings and flies using feathers are feather wings. As mentioned in the recipe the wing for this fly is set horizontally. My guess would be Dee style but looking at the photo of the fly the wing looks like it was set as a full dress wing. I think the fly would look and fish great either tied either way. To set a strip wing start by taking a strip of barbs from the feather. Goose shoulder works great for strip wings. Take a strip from the left side of the feather for the front side of the fly and strip from the right side of the feather for the back side of the fly. To set the wing, place both strips together. Cup the wing over the front of the hook making sure the back side strip moves over the back of the hook. While pinching the wing make a soft loop with the thread then while pulling straight down firm up the wrap. Make a number of firm securing wraps before letting go of the wing. These are just some basics, you could write a book on tying in this type of a wing. Putting a bend in the wing prior to setting it in will help in taming the wing over the back of the fly. This is called humping the wing,
Clip the tag ends of the winging material and give it a whip. Hit the head with a little cement and this one is ready for a swim. Good tying and better fishing.