Joseph Ludkin’s Reel Wings

Great to see these again – and now in Veniard packaging. Some years ago Joseph Ludkin contacted FF&FT and sent some sample wings which turned out to be Reel Wings. My opinion of these wing pairs has not changed a lot, “…the best sheet-wings I’ve seen to date”.

Supple plastic sheet, embossed with a fine pattern of veins, these actually look like the wings of insects. Look a little closer and where each pair of wings meet you can see a wee tab, a simple thing which makes these very easy to tie with. The wing pairs are now presented on a slightly sticky backing card, I can pick up even the smallest set of wings without the rest in the packet fluttering to the floor – excellent idea!

I have five packets here, representing: dun, spinner, midge, daddy and sedge. Each/most of those wing types comes in a few sizes. On an artificial fly these look excellent, for best effect I found I had to take a little care to match both my hook and dressing (mainly any hackle) to the size of the wings I was using. These wings look realistic, but they are still soft enough and tough enough to cast easily and fish well.

Technically this is a new product from Veniard, great to see a good innovative product get picked up by Veniard – so Reel Wings can reach more tackle shops and more fly tyers.

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