Orange Quill and Hen

[tie2fish]

Finished tying the Snipe and Stripped Herl flies that I plan to submit for the current Stripper's Fly Swap and decided to experiment a bit with the theme. In rummaging through some of the materials I salvaged from my friend Jack's stash after his passing, I found a selection of commercially stripped and dyed quills in several colors.

The orange ones caught my eye, and I originally thought that a brown speckled hen hackle might look good with them. Instead I settled on a solid orange-brown hen cape and added some sulphur orange dyed peacock herl for a thorax. All of this is tied on a vintage Mustad 94842 Size #14 hook using Uni-Thread 8/0 rusty brown thread.

[Theroe]

Bill
I see that you have mastered the quill technique...the way you have the second wrap covering the first, on top, is perfect. Also, having the trailing edge higher than the leading edge makes a perfect quill body. Those two previous steps keep the quill protected from the trout's teeth.... a subtle but very important step when tying quill bodies.....
Perfect!!

Dana

[SenecaLaker]

Ok, so being a complete newby at stripped quills. They appear to be flattened somewhat. I have stripped a few at home and they seem to be very round at the tip flattening somewhat toward the tip. Here is a pic describing what I am seeing. It seems that toward the eye, the quill changes shape similar to the one Bill posted. I am early in my trials and need to practice alot more, but hope you could provide some insight or some tips.

Dave

[Theroe]

If you look closely at a cross section of a quill (rachis) it is shaped like a rhombus. I soak them in warm water for 10 minutes then lightly crimp them flat with pliers. Emphasis on “lightly crimp” - If your squash the quill it will split or break....
Now that I’ve gotten past the mental block I had about posting pictures here, maybe I will post a step-by-step this evening!

[daringduffer]

I'm sure 'my' grayling would jump on your feathery maggot, Bill, it's nice enough and looks mature.

dd

[fly_fischa]

Feathery maggot (insert rolling eyes emoji here) I’d like to see u warm it up in ur cheeks Stefan
Beautiful tie Bill

Thero - I’ll hold u to that SBS Can’t wait...

[letumgo]

"feathery maggot"

That sounds more like the description of one of my flies, not one of Bill's.

[Old Hat]

That looks to be a great Fall Caddis pattern.

[Theroe]

That looks to be a great Fall Caddis pattern.

Right Carl? I mean, its perfect for the October Caddis.

Bill - where did you pick that pattern up - I haven't seen it before......

Dana

[tie2fish]

Bill - where did you pick that pattern up - I haven't seen it before......

Dana

Like a good deal of what I post here, it's my own concoction (or at least I think so).