WWWW dun
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Fly: Henk Verhaar, Photograph: Hans Weilenmann
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Hook: |
Long shank, curved dry fly hook, here a TMC 200R, although a hook with a slightly larger gape would actually be better |
| Thread: |
UNI, size 8/0 |
| Tail: |
Moose body, or other suitable material |
| Abdomen: |
Dyed turkey biot. Alternative: dry fly dubbing, such as muskrat
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| Rib: |
Dark tying thread, only with dubbed abdomen |
| Wing: |
A single hackle feather, such as partridge or other soft hackle, hen neck or low grade cock neck feather, tied WallyWing style. Basically this is a variant of the wonderwing style |
| Wingpost: |
Standard dry fly hackle |
I start with the hook in the vice in the traditional way, clamped at the lower curve of the bend, shank up. Then I tie in the tails, extending over the eye, and split by forcing them to the sides of the shank. Optionally, tie in the rib. Cover the butts, up to the tie-in point for the wing, and clip excess. Invert the hook, or rotate the vise through 180 degrees (upside down that is). Take a large soft hackle feather (duck flank makes a nice choice in larger sizes) and tie it in wonderwing style, on the inside of the hook (which will form the dorsal side of the fly since this is an upside-down pattern), pointing towards the hook point. Do not clip the butt of the feather (the unused part for the wonderwing), but grab one or two barbs on one side, and gently strip that half of the wonderwing away from the rachis. Do the same with the other side, and clip away the rachis, snipping as close to the wing tie-in point as possible. You now have two very life-like looking inverted hackle wings, also known as 'Wallywings', that still carry one or more free barbs, the ones you used to strip the feather. Snip those away.