Tenting Wings/Golden Pheasant Help

jeradjames

jeradjames

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I've tied a dozen of Walt Johnson's Deep Purple Spey and can't seem to get the feather wings right. How do you set them low enough where they are still showcasing the body?

Do you guys have any tips on tenting GP feathers for wings/setting them right? Seems like the recommendation is to do the far side first but haven't found the why behind that. I got some wax in the mail so I'll try that on the thread moving forward.

It seems like it's hard to find quality Pheasant Rump feathers for the hackle as well as quality Golden Pheasant feathers. I've bought two bags of GP feathers and two pheasant rumps and there's only been a few feather's that are good for this. Anyone have any favorite places they source these items from? Finding a GP skin seems like the best option but looks like they're really difficult to find these days. Might just need to start upland bird hunting again at this point.

Here's a few photos of what I'm working with, two different ties. First one is probably the closest I've got. I know the ribbing is wrong on these. Thanks for any tips if any!



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Theres been a lot written about this type of wing setting, and what works for some others find cumbersome and difficult.
Generally the 'tips' fall into these categories.

1. Flatten the stem with needle nose pliers.
This allows a better surface for the thread to lock down on, without 'rolling' the feather while working to collapse the hollow stem.

2. Doing the far side first ( especially if you tie 'clockwise') and then reversing the thread. This helps keep the thread from pulling the feathers 'off axis', or away from their center point on the shank. Reversing the thread means ( for me anyway) tying the far side in with the thread wrapping away ( clockwise) then 'throwing a loop', and tying in the near side with the thread wrapping towards you.

3. Feather selection is crucial. On any given cape only a certain number of feathers truly have the perfect curves and proportions needed for that totally awesome 'tent set' that you're after. In time, you'll get a feel for matching those ('right side and left side') rump feathers to just slightly overlap and sit low and tight against the body.

As in all tying, using less wraps here really helps on not bulking up the head, which can cause the feathers to sit high if you start with a bunch of wraps on the shank before tenting the wings.

:)
 
Mossback said:
Theres been a lot written about this type of wing setting, and what works for some others find cumbersome and difficult.
Generally the 'tips' fall into these categories.

1. Flatten the stem with needle nose pliers.
This allows a better surface for the thread to lock down on, without 'rolling' the feather while working to collapse the hollow stem.

2. Doing the far side first ( especially if you tie 'clockwise') and then reversing the thread. This helps keep the thread from pulling the feathers 'off axis', or away from their center point on the shank. Reversing the thread means ( for me anyway) tying the far side in with the thread wrapping away ( clockwise) then 'throwing a loop', and tying in the near side with the thread wrapping towards you.

3. Feather selection is crucial. On any given cape only a certain number of feathers truly have the perfect curves and proportions needed for that totally awesome 'tent set' that you're after. In time, you'll get a feel for matching those ('right side and left side') rump feathers to just slightly overlap and sit low and tight against the body.

As in all tying, using less wraps here really helps on not bulking up the head, which can cause the feathers to sit high if you start with a bunch of wraps on the shank before tenting the wings.

:)
Click to expand...
Perfect, thanks a bunch this will be helpful!
 
Sure...I remember when I first tied that pattern back in the 80's.
Finding good, long pheasant rump hackles was always hard, reading the old books regarding those, it always seemed to mention finding the older, wild birds to choose the hackles from, and the last few feathers on the rump were the best, the longest. Tying on smaller sized hooks made it easier for the feathers to 'scale' to the pattern better. I always wanted a bigger fly back then...so hackles were doubly hard to find.

I hear Golden Pheasant skins are harder to find these days, and so what is around is probably not of the highest quality, comparatively speaking.
Good luck, high quality materials make this type of tying easier, but they are definitely more expensive than off the fly shop rack skins.
 
Wing feathers follow your thread wraps around the hook the direction you wrap. Start the far side just above and a little on top of the hook; the feather will slightly shift to the far side. Then tie in the near side slightly lower on the side; the feather will shift up/ over to tent both. You’ll have to tie a few to get a feel of feather locations to start wrapping.

Another would be to tie the stems on top of the hook at the same time; you can adjust the stems to set the feathers into a tented position.
 
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Having the stems smashed flat really helps when tying them in at the same time, and depending on the feather selection, even having the stems cross with both feathers starting slightly to the outside of where you want them to wind up, then manipulating the stems after a slightly looser wrap or two, bringing them into final alignment before finishing with firm wraps.
A lot depends on what you find most comfortable to do, but feather selection...real important here.
 
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