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Post by NickConwall on Feb 4, 2010 22:30:10 GMT -5
Hi all, Was wondering if anyone has any good (for use on local waters foremost) flies that utilize mallard feathers, I have the complete skins & can see how some feathers can be used, just wondering if there are any flies calling specifically for mallard. Thanks!
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Post by VERNBURM on Feb 5, 2010 6:16:57 GMT -5
mallard flanks make great collars on speys....and wings on streamers like John Galloups Zoo Cougar Bronze mallrd wings for wings on speys
sorry if I'm stating the obvious
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Post by Nick Pionessa on Feb 5, 2010 6:59:08 GMT -5
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Post by Michael Hartman on Feb 5, 2010 8:37:46 GMT -5
You use mallard flank on your bunny speys. Right Nick?
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Post by AdamWellington on Feb 5, 2010 8:41:19 GMT -5
genghis, There are some cool feathers on a drake mallard, this season we ended up with a couple, and I usually keep the flank, the cool looking saddle feathers (haven't used them for anything yet), the little green feathers on the head (they make cool looking tails on wet flies), bronze flank, wing feathers, and some neck feathers. The Copper John below uses the neck feathers as legs: the neck feathers make neat soft hackle too. Oh yeah, can't forget the CDC! An adult mallard will yield a decent amount of CDC feathers which have a ton of uses. There is a gooey glob of feathers in the center of the CDC patch, grab that too, they are the oiler puffs. Wash them off in a mild soap to get the oil off and let them dry off. The oiler puffs are great for emerger patterns. Nick's woody bugger is probably the best streamer I have ever used, caught this dude on a brown/cream one in a little trib before christmas: I haven't used much Hen mallard, but the feathers look promising.
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Post by Michael Hartman on Feb 5, 2010 9:10:49 GMT -5
Nice fish. I have yet to tie up a woody bugger
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Post by k clancy on Feb 5, 2010 10:23:21 GMT -5
if you are inclined to tie dries in the somewhat arcane Catskill style, you can dye mallard flank feathers to sub for wood duck flank as wings.
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Post by NickConwall on Feb 5, 2010 11:26:05 GMT -5
Thanks guys, I found a dead mallards floating in a local pond, I duno if it was the cold or some lil shit with a sling shot but but I grabbed up one & have it drying out now.... I just didn't know if there was any cool fly designs out there that use alot of their various feather types of duck now that I have enough material to mass produce them.
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Post by johnjarosz(jj) on Feb 5, 2010 20:06:54 GMT -5
genghis seventy eight..if I was ever in a position where I was allowed to have only ONE fly in my arsenal, it would be the Woody Bugger. It's GOLD !!!
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Post by NickConwall on Feb 5, 2010 22:51:14 GMT -5
That's probably true about the wolly buggers but they get boring to tie after awhile, I guess I'm one of the types that has 1000 different flies of which some work & some don't, I just like using new material in new & different ways and experimenting. Sure it results in alot of crappy fishing days* but there's just something about catching that 1/100 fish on something you made that was concocted from my own haphazard brain & trial & error. For instance my profile picture is a fly I made up using red-white & blue schlappen, a little amber dubbing, some red sewing thread and a little tinsle, I never attempted to make a spey type fly like that before & the next day it caught me my biggest steely to date. * just to clarify, there is no such thing as a "crappy day" if your fishing during it, just days when the fish are biting like crap.
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