Muddle May

[scotfly]

This fly is from Al Beatty. He wanted a fly that floated like a Humpy, but still had the slender profile of a mayfly.
This is his answer. I would describe it as a muddle headed wonder winged haystack, but I think muddle may trips off the tongue a little easier.
As always, alter the colours to suit.

Instructions assume right-handed tyers

HOOK ? Dry Fly 10
THREAD ? Grey 6/0
TAILS ? Moose
BODY ? Adams Grey Beaver
WING ? Wonder Wing
COLLAR ? Deer Hair
HEAD ? Deer Hair

STEP 1
Attach the thread, wrap to the bend and back to mid-shank.



STEP 2
Mount the tails. These should be a little slimmer and a little longer than normal.



STEP 3
Tie in the Deer Hair collar.



STEP 4
Prepare the wonder wing by taking a hackle. The ones from the top of the cape are best for this. Strip a few fibres away to expose the stem.



Snip the stem at the base of the upperfibres and you will be left with a hackle like this.



Sweep the fibres down as shown.



Do the same with a second hackle and place them back to back curving away from each other. Leave the tips on, you can use these as handles later.



Then tie them in as shown. A couple of points to note. 1 ? You tie them in by the hackle fibres, the stem is not tied in. 2 ? Note there is a gap between the wings and the collar.



STEP 5
Wrap the thread to the tail and apply a pinch of dubbing to the thread.



Then wrap to the base of the collar to form the body.



STEP 6
Lift the collar up and build a taper in front of it with the thread to hold it up.



STEP 7
Tie in and flare the muddler head.



If necessary you can add a second bunch of deer hair.



STEP 8
Whipfinish and detach the thread. Then trim the muddler head to shape. This is where the little handles on the wonder wing come in handy.



STEP 9
Finally trim the tips off the wonder wing, then manipulate the collar hair to flair it through 180 degrees for the finished fly.

[just_steven]

Nice SBS Scotfly!

Thats the 1st time I've seen a wing made like that, and it looks pretty good.
Would you say that it's better/easier than the regular upwing technique, using feather slips?
Do you have a prefered method for your upwing dries or do you tend to stick to what the original pattern asks for?

Steve

[scotfly]

It is easier to tie than traditional wing slips, whether it is better or not I can't say, I've never fished with one.... Yet! Infact, that fly is the first wonder wing I've every tied.... So it's an easy technique.
If I'm tying a specific pattern I'll normally use what the pattern stipulates or similar, but I'd say probably 90% of my up-wing dries are either deer/elk hair or CDC. Simple to tie and most importantly, durable.
I intend this year to tie a few wonder/wally/step-over type wings to see how they compare for effectiveness and durability.