Stripped Quill

[haresear]

The GAC do them.
Mostly dyed colours, "Fisherman" something, and another company.

Don't know when I'll be next in, used to try and get in on a Thursday night, but the tying thing has started @ Milngavie,
but I can pick you some up and send them if it's any help ?.

Thanks for that Tony. It's OK I live in Cambuslang so I'm in there a lot.
I'll have a look for them.

Alex

[Tim]

Well here are some efforts with soaked quill.



Should catch fish if I can find someone who can cast.

Thanks for the help.

Tim

[haresear]

Those will catch fish Tim

I picked up some stripped and dyed quills from Glasgow Angling Centre. saves me the bother of doing it myself.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Tony.

Alex

[Andrew Moray]

Hello Alex,

You're welcome.


I was in today, son spending his birthday money in the "sale", and a lot of them were broken.
I'm relieved you found some good ones, and I hadn't put you onto a bum steer.


Tony

[Traditionalist]

There is no need to soak the quills, that is a bit of a mess on. Just put them in a damp cloth for a while. Ten minutes suffices.

TL
MC

[haresear]

Very good timing there Traditionalist . I have just retrieved some tying gear from the loft for tonight.Will be tying quill bodied F-flies.

Alex

[Traditionalist]

Very good timing there Traditionalist . I have just retrieved some tying gear from the loft for tonight.Will be tying quill bodied F-flies.

Alex

I just whipped this one up for you;



OOOps!  varnish was still wet!

Anyway, hook is  an Ashima Strong F-54 Emerging pupa size 14.

Body stripped peacock quill.  Wing, hare body fur. Thorax,  underfur from same.

Tying sequence is; Small drop of varnish on the layer of silk,  Wind quill in.  Select a bunch of dark hare fur. Cut it off close to the skin, pull out the soft underfur. Tie it in a bunch pointing over the eye. Dub a small amount of the thread tightly with the underfur you just pulled out, choosing the darker bits. Wind a small thorax, over the wing butts. Bend the wing back with thumb and forefinger of your left hand, take the final dubbing turn in front of the wing.  Whip finish.

TL
MC

[haresear]

That's a nice fly Traditionalist. Just my cup of Te Bheag .
Nice and easy to tie and incorporates hare, like most of my flies (although I have been substituting possum for a lot of mine lately. Hare looks best for the wing though.

Alex

[Traditionalist]

It occurred to me that some may not know that one may also simply use ordinary hackle quill as well for these flies.  The large hackles on a cape which you have no particular use for can be stripped and wound in quite easily. They are also more robust than peacock quill. After stripping, just place in a damp cloth for a few minutes.

This is a fly dressed with such a quill, from a light brown cape. I have used open turns here, to give a more pronounced segmentation, as the quill is all the same colour. Quills like this vary widely, and one may of course also use the quills from dyed capes. The coarser the cape, the better the quill often is. The flies are dressed on standard size 16 hooks.  Rest of the fly is just hare fur, as previously. Some dyed capes will give very conspicuous banding, which can be quite useful.  When dressing this type of fly, one should also not ignore biots.  Some info on biots below the photos;




This was SUPPOSED! to have abutting turns!   But the quill slipped a little on the second turn, and I did not notice!. I only dampened these quills for a minute or so as well, and that is really not long enough. The camera shows up all such mistakes! Such is life! I don?t think the fish would really mind much though.



One advantage of the hackle quills as opposed to the peacock quill, is that they are tapered ( If you use the right piece!   )  This makes a more natural looking body. Biots are even better for this.

http://www.invictaflies.us/Articles/all_about_biots.htm

More info here;
http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/biot/07.shtml

Some examples here;
http://www.danica.com/flytier/bsalzburg/biot_pmd_nymph.htm

http://www.danica.com/flytier/bsalzburg/cdc_loop_wing_biot_emerger.htm

http://www.danica.com/flytier/gnocentini/biot_dun.htm

http://www.danica.com/flytier/tmillot/para_biot.htm

TL
MC

[Tim]

Fished a bit of the Itchen navigation on Friday. It is stocked, but not with thousands of 5lb fish or anything like that. It was really too early in the season and apart from a couple of rising fish early on - one of which I made a mess of - there was nothing showing. I went exploring with the boy dropping the odd nymph in the river, but dad kept casting away with dries.

Suddenly we heard a shout and Tom raced 50 yards down the bank with the net. Not another fish had showed for hours. What had lured this beast from the depths? A size 12 stripped quill deer hair emerger I had given him...he even rose and missed a second fish soon after. Sorry about dodgy photo!



I blank. Dad catches, and on my fly! Luckily world order was repaired the next day and he was put back in his place.

Tim