Flatwings

A while back I saw a tutorial on a ‘Flatwing’ on another blog, which aroused my interest immediately. So I searched the internet for other examples (there are quite a few out there once you start looking), and made me a couple to test. This is a saltwater pattern which is gaining a lot of popularity in America, but you can just as well use it to fish for pike.

These were my first attempts, which are almost the same as the original. I just used epoxy eyes (with some UV-stuff between them) instead of the usual jungle cock feathers (some guys don’t even use eyes at all).

They are very light and very aerodynamic, so they cast very easily and they move very well in the water, with a nice profile despite of the small amount of material used.

But I quickly had some problems with the peacock herl. Mainly with the colour, because peacock has a great shine but it doesn’t blend well with many other colours.

 

So I looked for dyed herl. But beside the roots the peacock just keeps its own colour.

 

Of course you can find peacock herl which is bleached first and coloured afterwards, but it doesn’t improve the quality of the herl, and you loose that typical peacock shine, so you might just as well use something else.

So I just used saddle hackles instead. And from that moment on, the sky was the limit to make other colour combinations. Here you have some...

 

 

I’m very happy with these flies, so I already tied me a box full…