In others, the wings are attached to the real fly in the same place as in a regular thorax pattern. Therefore, I tie flies with the wings attached in both places so I can match the hatch of the day. I guess I prefer to match the hatch more than I prefer to be conventional. Our first fly this week is an unconventional twist on the conventional thorax fly. It uses a conventional wing and tail, but the wing and hackle are moved forward slightly to match those mayflies with forward attached wings.
Conventional thorax flies use turkey flats for wings.
That s how the feather gets its name. This type of feather forms a nice wing with the tips of the wing being flat, just like in the feather. Size 10 - 22. Color to match the body of the insect you want to imitate. Turkey flat - either a cluster of fibers from a flat, or the center of the feather.