Blue Quill/Quill Gordon

bjkaledas

bjkaledas

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Sep 12, 2006
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I was wondering if anybody had a good pattern for these two flies and what the real difference between them is?

Thanks,

BJ
 
The most notable difference is in size. Blue Quills are usually tied in #18-16, whereas Quill Gordons in #14-12. Also, the Quill Gordon traditionally sports a brown barred mallard flank wing; whereas the Blue Quill a grey feather-wing. I have no pattern to share, but the tail would be light to medium dun as would the hackle and the body dark brown. A dark quill body is prefered for either imitation.
 
I was going to say pretty much exactly what Jack said. I like to tie mine with a peacock quill. You can just rub the "barbs" off with an eraser to get a clean quill, being careful not to break the quill. It's a nice deep dark brown color. The tail and hackle on both is a medium dun. The wing on the Gordon is mallard flank feathers, and the wing on the Blue Quill is medium dun hackle tips. I just tied up some #18 comparaduns for the Blue Quill too. Just a dark brown or black dubbed body with grayish elk hair wings. I tied some with microfibret tails, and some with a shuck for emergers.
 
Here's a Quill Gordon pattern and tying instructions: Quill Gordon
 
Actually in my world they are two different bugs:

The Blue Quill is actually the Paraletophlebia adoptiva

DUN INFO

Size: about 6-8 mm long (hook size 18-16)
Body Color: Reddish brown
Tails: Brown
Wings: Medium gray
Legs: Brown

For an imitation I tie a size 18 reddish brown dubbed body parachute or thorax pattern with a medium gray Z-Lon wing and brown hackle.

The Quill Gordon is actually the Eporus pleuralis

DUN INFO

Size: about 9-12 mm long (hook size 12-10)
Body Color: Light grayish brown with yellow banding
Tails: Dark gray
Wings: Medium gray
Legs: Grayish brown

For an imitation I tie a size 12 grayish/yellow dubbed body parachute or thorax pattern with a medium gray Z-Lon wing and medium dun hackle.

My approach to mayfly imitations isn't as romantic as tying specific named patterns for specific hatches but it does work for me. For all of my mayflies I just look up the real bug and tie either a parachute or thorax with the right colors for the bug I am attempting to imitate. I don't do the named patterns like Quill Gordon, Red Quill, Grey Fox, etc for ANY mayflies; just the same two basic styles with size & color variations.

Also a lot of the "matches" for Bug A; also work pretty good for Bug C because the size and colors are close enough.

I've been doing it this way ever since I got pissed at Halford and Skues one day when they wouldn't tell me their fly dressings or lasagna recipes and I decided to go it my own way. :-D
 
Sounds like a pretty fancy way of telling him pretty much the same thing to me ;-)
 
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