[obiwankanobi]

Anyone know what wing material is being used for the commercially tied Rainy's Grand Hopper? After recently moving to Montana, I want to start stocking up my fly box now for the peak year of hopper fishing on the Bighorn and Yellowstone. I talked to a local commercial tier that thinks it is plastic laminated natural turkey but after closer inspection, it is all synthetic. I thought maybe its an arrow vane material but my search came up empty. I looked on the Rainy's website and they do not sell this product. Any thoughts/suggestions?

I will contact them tomorrow and see if they are willing to spill their secret.

 

[colton rogers]

oh oh oh i totally know what your talking about! i just dont remember the name lol

 

[colton rogers]

if worse comes to worse, turkey with some epoxy on it...

 

[Tom House]

Thin Skin?

TC

 

[colton rogers]

no thin skin is too flashy, hes looking for something mottled.

 

[obiwankanobi]

So after talking to Rainy's today here is what they told me. It is a laminated saddle hackle so basically take a ginger saddle hackle and find a way to laminate it. I will start by sandwiching a feather inbetween Scotch tape and ironing it and going from there. I know that there are many alternatives from those mentioned above to many others currently available regarding winging material. What I like about this approach is that it creates a realistic and durable wing that is "light as a feather and stiff as a board"

 

[Norm Frechette]

in rainys world of mass producing flies, that answer they gave you seems a little odd to me that they would actually take the time to laminate a feather for the wing.

 

[tkww]

in rainys world of mass producing flies, that answer they gave you seems a little odd to me that they would actually take the time to laminate a feather for the wing.

Indeed, though I doubt they are the ones doing the laminating.

 

[colton rogers]

i dont think ironing directly on scotch tape is smart... put an eighth of inch of paper on to and iron that so start with.

 

[Norm Frechette]

by "they" i mean someone in rainys fly tying sweatshop in thailand must be doing the laminating