Kit Muskrat and Valley Quail 1640 (SBS/Tutorial)

[Ruard]

Nice fly Ray and I like the Quail skin very very much. How did you do the ribbing? Did you wind the dubbing from the eye to the bend or did you use the loose end of the silk??

Greeting

[Bear007]

I like that fly Ray, cool rib. I've never tried Kit Muskrat, whats the difference between that and the mature?

[letumgo]

Ruard - Yes. The thread is dubbed and wrapped towards the bend, ribs are formed as the thread is wrapped forward over the body.

DETAILED TYING INSTRUCTION:
1) Mount hook in vise
2) Wax the roughly 150 mm (6") of the tying silk and attach it to the hook with four wraps, just behind the eye of the hook. Trim off tag end.
3) Prepare hackle (strip off fluffy base fibers) and then tye in by the stem with four firm wraps. Trim off the stem of the feather.
4) Pinch off a small clump of underfur from the muskrat skin, and finger blend the fibers.
5) Take a very small amount of dubbing (think tiny whisk) and dub the tying thread. Wrap the dubbing forward to the hackle tye in point (helps form the body taper) and then back to the bend of the hook. The dubbing should run out where you want the tag end to be.
6) Make three wraps of thread to form the tag and then begin wrapping forward to the eye of the hook. When you get to the dubbed section of the body, use open spiral wraps to form the ribs/segment the body.
7) Add a tiny tiny (repeated for emphasis) amount of dubbing to the thread and form a tiny thorax.
8) Wrap the hackle feather towards the thorax, and secure in place by wrapping the thread forward at a steep angle.
9) Form a three turn whip finish (forming the head) and trim off the thread.

Tim - The kit muskrat behaves just like mature muskrat. The main difference is the fur seems to be finer and shorter. The tips of the underfur is very pale gray. More so than the adult muskrat skins I own.

[Kelly L.]

Thank you Ray. I never heard of a Valley Quail. I think I have two different quail skins though. Pretty sure one is a California Quail. I have a muskrat skin, but no young one. This is a large one I've had for years. A little of that, goes a long way.

[DOUGSDEN]

Ray,
Everything everyone said above....times ten! Your creativity in tying and photography is a national treasure! Please keep us fed!
Doug

(I can just imagine this bad boy trying to make it thru the currents and riffles of the Madison unmolested! Knock'm stiff Ray, take a bunch of pic.'s, and "Letumgo"!)

[DOUGSDEN]

Handsome looking bird Ray! I was eyeing the beautiful blue dun feathers in the first photo and then I scrolled down to see even more varieties and colors. There is more than meets the eye with this beauty! Thanks for sharing this with us! I'll add this one to the ever-growing list of must have skins! Simply wonderful!
Dreaming D.

[William Anderson]

Ray, this a great looking pattern and the pics of the bird were exactly what i was hoping to see. Thanks for shooting those. I might have one of these somewhere, but under the name of Valley Quail I was feeling like I was missing something. This is a great little pattern.

w