Imitation Wood Duck (dyed mallard)

[letumgo]

Hook - Mustad Dry Fly Model R50 (Size 12)
Thread - Kimono Silk (#363/Dilly Bear Brown)
Tail - Mallard Hackle Fibers (Dyed Wood Duck Color)
Body - Nature's Spirit Hares Mask Dubbing (HMD-26/Callibaetis)
Collar (*) - Mallard Hackle Fibers (Dyed Wood Duck Color)

Lesson Learned (*) - I got the best results by tying in the hackle feather by the tip (shortest fibers and finest part of the stem). You just gotta be gentle when wrapping the feather forward, then reinforce with tying thread when forming the head of the fly.




Prepared hackle (left) and tailing material (bottom right)

[Roadkill]

Beautiful flies!!

[Mike62]

I love mallard/wood duck, but the stuff is soooo hard to get right. I need to work on my patience.

[DUBBN]

Amazing Ray. Gorgeous floes!!

[Variant]

Nice color combinations, Ray.
Lou

[letumgo]

I intend to tye a “henwing” version, but struggled to get the wing to behave. The stem of the feather will not cooperate. Had to switch to a simple hackle collar instead.

Thanks Lou. I was trying to harmonize the colors, to subtly blend with the hackle. Hopefully this will imitate lighter spectrum insects. The pattern needs some work. A fun excuse to play around at the vise.

[Terrestrial12]

Did you dye it or buy it?

[letumgo]

It was an “impulse buy” a few years ago. I saw the color and had to buy it. I used a couple feathers straight out of the bag, but it always made a mess, I stopped using them. Figured if I sorted and prepared the feathers, I’d be more inclined to use them.

We’ll see if that’s true. I have a short attention span and easily get distracted by other materials. (humor)

[Terrestrial12]

For 2 whole days after waterfowl season last year I sorted mallard, woodie, teal, pigtail, and gadwall flank. Ended up with an entire shoebox full of fluff off the bottom of the feathers if that tells you how much sorting I did

[letumgo]

Fist bump!

Sounds like you had an incredibly good hunting season. Congratulations.