Blue Quill Patterns

[littlelehigh]

Just looking for some ideas or links for blue quill dries and especially nymphs. I'm not even sure they emerge in the water. any help or links would be great. The only thing I found was adams grey dubbing, microfibbett tail, dark dun hackle with a grey 8/0 head. This sound more like a western pattern but what do I know.

 

[MKern]

Blue dun nymps have a reddish hue to them. I tie just a generic nymph pattern using reddish brown dubbing and matching partridge as tails and legs.

For dries I use blue dun superfine dubbing with dun hackle and microfibits.

 

[sandfly]

blue quill dry- hook #16, thread black, tail dark dun, body peacock quill stripped or dark reddish brown dubbing, wing duck quill slips, hackle dark dun..
blue quill nymph- hook #16, thread black, body reddish brown dubbing, wingcase duck quill, thorax dk. reddish brown dubbing, pick out thorax for legs or dk. dun fibers tied under thorax.

 

[littlelehigh]

Thanks guys you 2 are walking recipe books for flies. I have to admit I was caught off guard with the reddish dubbing since this is a blue quill but what do I know.

 

[sundrunk]

Try to tie your (Quill) bodied fly as dainty and sparesly hackled as you can. Line up your thread lines with each turn; don't over wrap the hook shank with tread. Think light weight...

 

[littlelehigh]

sundrunk wrote:
Try to tie your (Quill) bodied fly as dainty and sparesly hackled as you can. Line up your thread lines with each turn; don't over wrap the hook shank with tread. Think light weight...

YES after having bad gaps on the first few it clinked as you stated but that's what I enjoy about tying quill bodies the challange.

 

[sundrunk]

I like to use 12/0 or even 14/0 tying thread on my light weight drys.

 

[littlelehigh]

Right with you I just started using 14/0 myself even on #22 nymphs. I think it actually makes tying easier and of course less bulky when you are tying a slim body.

 

[MattBoyer]

One six oz burger, three strips of bacon, bleu cheese on a kaiser roll. That's the Blue Quill recipe at the Hotel Manor in Slate Run. :-D OK, so that was cheeseball post, but the word Blue Quill made me hungry for one.

Boyer

 

[sandfly]

here he is as a nymph..

 

[David]

sandfly wrote:
here he is as a nymph..

That is sexist! You can tell it is a she from the long eyelashes!

 

[sandfly]

no way its a he look at the long center tail... :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[RLeeP]

I think the early paraleps or blue quills are one of the mayflies that best lends itself to imitation with a comparadun. A lot of the days this time of year are still pretty raw and the bugs often will ride for a while before taking wing. More often than not, the blue quill is not really a fly that fidgets very much on the water. This is another reason, IMO, that a comparadun works well. It's pretty common to see trout set up in small circular eddies picking them off as they go round and round and round.

For use in PA, I always liked a #18 comparadun with dark dun or dark brown outrigger tails, natural deer hair wing and a dark reddish-brown body. The body should be fairly dull, pretty dark and not that bright red-brown often sold as rust dubbing.

I've never done as well however fishing the later Blue Quills (off and on from June through October) with a comparadun. On these bugs, I've always done best with a conventional blue quill dry.

I don't know why this is, but that's OK. We don't need to know everything...