MAINE - Life in the Slow Lane
Dave, I almost always stay with what a pattern calls for with the exception of color. Never thought of leaving off wings on a dry though. Surely would be faster and easier. Thinking of a couple right now.
I have left the wings off a few bwo and they seam to work just fine. I just tied in the tail , did a slight dub of the body and spun a hackle instead of a wing and hackle.. Floats fine and fish seam to enjoy it the same.
If memory serves me correctly a trout's diet consists mainly
of aquatic insects (meaning those that are still in the nymph stage). It is only on the occasions of a hatch that trout get to
dine on a full course of insects with wings.
As for trout eating winged land based insects with wings is about as rare as me dining on lobster or sirloin tip.
Fishing a hatch is, as we know, a case of close imitation to the natural...Therefore wings should come into play on those
flies.
Then the popularity of soft hackle spiders comes to mind.
I have seen trout eating arachnids as often has I have seen them come ashore hunting mice.
Stephen
As always a bit of humor to your answers Stephen. You make me chuckle. Never quite thought of it that way. Thanks Stephen . Then what your saying is those cute little feathers that stick up between spun hackles of the Adams, and a whole bunch of other dry flies are for show and not catching fish.. Cheers Dave V
They are for catching fishermen not for catching fish 
My thoughts exactly or maybe the fish can see those little wings just fluttering away. Some how I doubt it. Except for when they are feeding on the spinners. I guess I will really never know unless I come back as a fish. 
Can you believe this Hatches Magazine stole my question. In the new issue right on page 19 winging it. They talk about wings are they important or not. They feel they are although some disagree. . If you have a chance to pick up this Magazine take a look it has some good stuff in there. Dave V
Hey Guys,
Been a while since I posted here. Just my 2 cents here.... I don't think the fish can see them in most situations. All they see is the tips of the legs and maybe the bottom of the body in the surface film. They are looking up at them from below. There is some science involved here too. I remember reading somewhere that the way a salmonoids eye are positioned doesn't allow them to see directly in font of them when looking directly ahead. They have a kind of blind spot that distorts what is directly in front of them for a few inches from the tip of their nose. I think it's true because I've lost count of how many times I've watched dimples and strikes just an inch or two from a floating dry fly. If you can be patient and wait another couple seconds 99% of the time they'll come right back for a second hit. Never a third time.
I have a question for you all . It probally is a matter of opinion. The question is do wings on a fly matter to catching trout ? I have fished and tied them both but I never really thought about it before. Do the wings matter to the trout or are they for the fisherman to see the fly better.? I have tied my flies of late without wings and tie them with just hackle . Mainly because its faster. So what do you guy's think ?.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was
cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time.
On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words,
and some of the words are theirs.