Quill Gordon Ties

[JackM]

Share your personal ties. I hope to catch this hatch this Spring and would like to tie a variety. Here is my effort at a standard catskill tie. I only had #14 dry hooks. Should these be tied in #12: instead?

 

[jayL]

I've never hit a QG hatch. While you're sharing your ties, feel free to share what you know about them, if Jack doesn't mind.

 

[JackM]

Well this is inspired from the prospective Quill Gordon Summit Paul G suggested we have to accommodate all of us for whom it has been "most elusive." Share whatever information you wish.

 

[hammertime]

I believe they emerge (change from nymph to dun) on the stream bottom, so wets would probably be very effective. If the emerging thing is true.

 

[JackM]

Here's a wet fly pattern I imitated. Legs too long, clearly.

 

[Maurice]

So is the downwing but it would make a nice streamer.

Wings on traditional wets should only extend to the bend.

 

[sundrunk]

Slender body, is that a light dun?

 

[JackM]

Maurice wrote:

Wings on traditional wets should only extend to the bend.

Use your imagination.

Light dun? For the legs? Or silver, it's what I had in a hen.

 

[Maurice]

I figured I'd better back up my comment with a picture. Elst be judged critical. So I tied and photo'd a dry and a wet QG. Now you can have a go at mine.

Recipe Quill Gordon Dry

Hook: #14 standard dry
Tail: Grey hackle barbs
Body: Hackle stem (quill) from a Brown saddle.
Wing: Wood duck flank feather
Hackle: Ginger

Recipe Quill Gordon wet

Same with no hackle and a down wing. Legs are grey hackle barbs.

 

[jayL]

Nice ties. The lighting is off, so I can't determine the materials. Got a recipe?

 

[blueheron]

Maurice ,
I tie my upright wings a little taller ,1 1/4 to 1 1/2 of body, just a touch longer than yours appear. I'll post mine when I et back out to my desk. I have hit the QG hatch in the Poconos right around opening day and the big brookies can't resist

 

[blueheron]

Alright I braved the blizzard, here's my dun. My nymph would be my dark soft hackle. Chris

 

[troutslammer]

quill gordon , key to hatch activity is water temp , 50 degrees for a few days in sucession will trigger the hatch , 4 days approx. the spinners will show up at the warmest part of the day (12-2) over the riffles , they will continue to hatch despite the weather once they start hatching , water must be pure and no pollutants , high silt content , factory discharge 9warm water ) etc. if you have good hatches of quill gordons u have awesome water quality . nymphs do emerger subsurface as someone already mentioned , they migrate to the downstream side of rocks late to mid morning , making a nymph pattern in the am pre hatch killer , during a hatch a emerger pattern such as a soft hackle hares ear is killer , nymphs sizes 10,12 standard , surface size 10,12,14 peak emergence is usually between 12:30 - 2:30 but cold drizzly days 2-4 when it is warmest , trout sip the spinners pretty inconspicously so you gota really watch for them , not gonna splash water like a caddis hatch .. if spinners and duns are both on the water , trout usually ignore the spinners (in slower stretches of water ) but in faster water the spinners out # the duns and a spinner seems to work better . i am by no means a expert but i think this may help some and most probably already know this stuff , sorry about the long post fellas just trying to help and i don't think i even spot burned in this one ...lmao 1 other thing if the quills are not hatching put on a san juan worm ....hehehheeee

 

[Alpabuck]

Troutslammer thats great info.....!

 

[Festus]

The Quill Gordon is my all time favorite, especially on cold, rainy days. I don't have any special ties for fishing it subsurface. In the wet fly department, nothing beats a Gold Ribbed Hares Ear. I fish it up and across to fish that are feeding directly across from me, working a good belly into the drift, and bang 'em most every time as the fly upswings following the line. As for emergers, I fish a tannish olive body with a diamond bead in the thorax and CDC or snoeshoe wings.

For the dry, I don't like using peacock quill. I use a well soaked yellow dyed turkey biot taken from the tail of a turkey that's wrapped over olive thread. You can coat the biot with Hard As Nails if you wish, but I ain't had no problem with biots breaking as long as they've been soaked, starting with hot water, for a half hour of so. I opt not to use wooduck, using dun hackle butts instead.

Should these be tied in #12: instead?

Yes. I even put them on 10s for fishing pocket water.

 

[MKern]

Festus,
I like. Nice picture in the down's too.

 

[Festus]

Thanks kindly MKern.

 

[jayL]

Festus,

Do us the favor of sticking around buddy. Nice ties, as usual.

(psst. you broke character. :lol

 

[RLeep2]

Nice flies and good advice/experiences, everybody.

I have a little different take on the entire Quill Gordon thing. I used to like to fish them (where they can be found in significant numbers, which is the crux of the problem), but even 20-30 years ago, they weren't among the mayflies you're likely to see in any profusion on most streams, even during their usual hatch period. The Epeorus flies have pretty stringent water quality requirements and in some ways, having exactly the right fly to match them is a little like having exactly the right dinner jacket to spend the evening with the Prince of Wales.

It's nice to have, but the chances of actually being able to put it to use are kinda iffy.

But certainly, there are places where they are still important. But unless you concentrate your time on smaller NC or NE freestones, I just don't think there are that many of them any more..

 

[Festus]

I reckon I'll try to do just that JayL. Sorry about breakin' character man. Sometimes.....well you know.

I generally don't get south of the Tioga/Potter county lines except for an occaisional trip to Spring and Penns, but I think RLeep2 is right. Years ago, I encountered great hatches of Eperous on the Big Bushkill and sometimes on the Broadheads. I don't know if they are still as prevalent on those watersheds or not. Up here, we had sparse early season hatches of Gordons and Hendricksons through the late 90s until an oil well capping program was done. By 2001, the early season hatches began coming back and today we have blizzard hatches of Gordons like I've never seen before anywhere. The only factor limiting our early season hatches now is ICE. If we have heavy ice on the Pine that scours the bottom, the Gordons seem to suffer terribly.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.