The above wing chart is an idea that was inspired by two people who helped me to develop it, Wayne Luallen, who sent me photographs of some of his flies, and Tom Juracek who submitted an article to the April 1992 Salmon Flyer.

From these two gentlemen I got the idea to draw my flies on paper (as suggested by Wayne) before actually beginning tying. This also gave me the opportunity to closely study wing design before actual construction (as suggested by Tom).

In the past I have had a lot of problems with foreseeing the final look of the wing while I was marrying fibers together. Then I decided to buy a large number of felt markers in numerous colors.

Once I make a drawing of the desired shape of the fly I will then draw a color chart alongside showing the sequence of materials to be used in the wing. This will then give me an approximate representation of the final color pattern. Believe me, it is easier to discard a piece of colored paper than it is to redo a wing!