Fanwings

[overmywaders]

Eric Austin, fly-tier extraordinaire, has been doing fanwings of late. If you are unfamiliar with fanwings you can see them at http://www.overmywaders.com/ericaustin.html .

Not only are fanwings beautiful (they catch the fisherman) but they are great fish-catchers. They flutter to the surface delicately and provide a tempting silhouette. Unfortunately, they are not very durable and they can twist a leader badly (I go up two leader sizes and sometimes switch to Maxima). Still, handy to have in a back pocket for those days when fish are fickle.

Best regards,
Reed
www.overmywaders.com

[fessiewig]

Very nice flies. Very nice pics.

[flytire]

Are the wings always that large? Just wondering!

[overmywaders]

flytire,

No sometimes they are larger...
http://www.overmywaders.com/images/OSlarge/ogdensX.jpg

These are from the Ogden Smith fly plates on Overmywaders, under "Images". They are from ca. 1925 England.

Best regards,
Reed
www.overmywaders.com

[flytire]

They must be awfully hard to cast?

[overmywaders]

norm,

They are not hard to cast, but you don't want to do a lot of false-casting, it winds up the tippet. If you look at them head-on you'll see that they probably have less air resistance than a bushy Hairwing Royal Coachman.

You can buy them at http://business.virgin.net/fly.fishing/mayflies.html , although their style is more spentwing.

Best regards,
Reed
www.overmywaders.com

[petegas]

i remember the Fan Wing Coffin Fly (aka Green Drake), tied by the Dettes, being a killer fly during the green drake hatch on the beaverkill and willowemoc, those big teal wings really look sharp (to the fish as well)