Red Quill

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steely34
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2012/02/25 13:11:20 (permalink)

Red Quill

Been tying some of these lately for a gentleman and thought I'd post a tute of them...

The Red quill pattern has quite a history - going back as far as 1886 when a gent by the name of Frederick Halford wrote in his book about a reddish brown fly pattern he tied using stripped peacock herl - dyed red. He used this material for the body - wound about the hook shank. Art Flick - it is believed - was one of the first to use stripped hackle stem for the body back in 1933.

And as far as the living mayfly called the Red Quill - although TroutNut lists it - there seems to be discussion over whether it is any different from the Hendrickson. Whatever we fish it for to imitate the natural - at any rate it's a good pattern to use.

It has been tied with mallard and also lemon wood duck for the wings. Here's just another way to create the wings for this.

1. Start the thread - size 18 hook here.



2. Using a reddish brown hackle - cut - don't strip a small amount of hackle from the stem. Strippin it off causes the hackle to curl a tad. Cutting it off the stem after you pull a small amount back and away from the stem to even the tips keeps it all tight. Makes for a better tail.



3. After stripping all the hackle off both sides of the stem - soak it in hot water and liquid detergent for about 30 minutes to make it more flexible. Tie it in and wrap forward.







4. Tie in the hackle. Take a large hackle - ginger colored and fold back the fibers the opposite way by pinching it between you thumb and forefinger. Tie two of these in for the wings and trim off the tips.








5. Wrap the hackle behind and once in front of the wings - tie off.








"They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it..... you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."

John Gierach

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    doubletaper
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    RE: Red Quill 2012/02/25 19:07:10 (permalink)
    i always considered the red quill as the male hendrickson
    i also tie some male hendricksons with a dubbed body but in slow water, when the fish are picky, i use the quill bodies more often. better representation of the segmented bodies of most mayflies but a little more fragile.
    for the female i use yellow thread and pinkish tan dubbed body, or tan polycrylon.
    for both i use the wood duck as you mentioned.
    your wings are interesting though and look good.

    oh, i have yet to have to soak the stems. i use saddle hackle stems mostly and they are a bit more flexable than cape feathers.

    post edited by doubletaper - 2012/02/25 19:09:15

    http://streamsidetales.bl...015/05/helles-yea.html
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    if success is consistent 





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    dano
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    RE: Red Quill 2012/02/28 19:56:15 (permalink)
    I now dub the bodies on mine, too but still find the quill body more effective for fussy fish.
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    dougbrick
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    RE: Red Quill 2012/03/01 14:45:26 (permalink)
    nice steely34, very nice, looks like I got a long way to go What kind of camera are you using for those shots? I thought the pics I took of mine last night were good, until I looked how clear and close up yours are. Im jealous.
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