Anyone Else use Wood Duck or Mallard Flank Feathers with Comparadun

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Hi,

I like to add some wood duck feathers to the deer hair as I stack it for a Sparkle Dun. Wondered if others do as well?
Thanks,
Byron

2

Byron,

Interesting and nice, as usual. Adds a ‘buggy active’ appearance to the light hair wing. Wonder if the same effect will be gotten with a wing of dark deer? Oh, I don’t think you’ll get the same effect with mallard flank. Barring is not as distinct as wood duck.

Allan

3

Seems like I remember Shane Stalcup using Mallard Flank in front of his deer hair on a comparadun.

4

Nice concept. Try some gadwall…

5

Looks buggy as heck. Like QK said, gadwall would work well too, especially on darker flies. Teal on the small stuff.

6

Hi Byron,

Unless your a duck hunter that gets quite a few drake wood ducks every year, that’s just a total waste of good wood duck lemon flank. If you use teal instead, it might be worth the effect and effort since it’s so much cheaper. Trout are never going to see that aspect of the wing. They’re looking for something to eat from underneath looking up. If your looking for a more effective Comparadun pattern for fishing, try tying CDC for the body part very sparse over the dubbing by palmering it in very wide turns from the tail to the bottom of the wing. You can also try tying just a bit right under the wing so there’s only around 10-14 CDC barbs to simulate the legs on a mayfly. They won’t work that well on fast water, but as you probably are well aware, Comparaduns weren’t made for fast water to begin with, and they’ll impart movement on slow water or large pools that can make a difference to a trout that’s seen alot of stuff floating by already if it’s targeting dry fly’s.

Regards,
Mark

7

Thanks Mark
That’s the reason I said “or mallard flank”

8

I often add a couple turns of CDC at the head of my flies, particularly Caddis imitations, to simulate legs, or to possibly to simply add some life to the fly. These flies will very often outfish the same pattern tied without the CDC.

I have never tried palmering the entire body as you’ve suggested, but that sounds like an excellent idea. I think I’m also going to try this technique on some Stimulators. After I palmer the body with normal sized hackle, I’m going to try palmering over it with slightly oversized CDC. Thanks for the idea.