Quill Spiders...

[Niklas Dahlin]

Nice,
There is a lot to be said for quill bodied flies, am am also a lover of feather herl bodied flies, particularly for mayfly imitations, emerges, duns and spinners.

There is a famous Welsh fly by the name of the Usk Nailer, which was at one time my local river, this fly and its variations is a killer at times.

DW

Thank´s Davy.. Will look up your welsh fly..
Later
Nik

[willowhead]

Great flies Nik.....have a great show at the BFFI. See you soon Davy. i'll call when i get back mid Nov. ('10).....

[William Anderson]

I assume many of you have not seen these with my very limited posting of flies...but a few swaps ago I tied a pair of quill bodies softhackles using a porcupine body-hair, not quite the quill. They have been as effective as anything else actually. I think probably as spinners, but I haven't used them to match a hatch.

Porc and Hen Dark

IBF9.2_Pork and Hen - dark-william_anderson.jpg

Proc and Hen Light

IBF9.1_Pork and Hen - light-william_anderson.jpg

Hans took the pics for the IBF swaps, so thank you, Hans for the use of the pics. I hope you don't mind.

w

[daringduffer]

Oh my...

dd

[Old Hat]

Very nice William. We have a winter stone hatch here around February and I know that little black one in about a size #12 would do great for that hatch. Most people I know fish this hatch with dries or weighted nymphs but I have always done much better with flymph style flies.

[redietz]

Makes you wonder eh. What would have the North Country Spides looked like if our forefathers could have got some peacock?

??? They did, at least by the end of the 19th century, Pritt mentions peacock herl on 20 out 62 flies, almost a third. Usually it was a a head, but there are several peacock bodied (Smoke Fly, Small Ant) or peaoock-thoraxed (Red Clock) as well.

It's just that they never thought to strip it. (And something I'd never do if peacock were hard to come by.)

[kanutripr]

Mmmm, delicious!

I'm inspired even more to try quill bodies and that porcupine body would make a stunning stonefly creation! Hmmm.


Vicki

[William Anderson]

Nik, I just went back to look at the beginning of your thread and those flies are really something. I realized that I intended to remark on your set and absent-mindedly skipped that step and posted my own. I love quill bodies and the group you posted are marvelously done. I didn't mean to step on your thread by posting mine, I just thought the contrast would be interesting. (and thanks to all for the kind words.)

Those peacock quills make me want to go back and give that another go. I haven't tried them in a long time.

w

[hankaye]

OK, I understand the bit of "Quill Body" that nifty bit wrapped 'round the middle.
What exactly is the material and from wince (sp?), does it hail...
hank

[William Anderson]

This should be a straight forward answer...and it is, with a couple exceptions. Quill bodies in my mind are tied with the hackle stem from a hen or a rooster. The center shaft that holds all the feathers herls and attaches to the birds skin. But before this, the actual herl stem from a peacock quill was used when it was stripped of all it's...herl. As in a Quill Gordon Catskill Dry. So those quills are actually herls. But the quills shown in the two pics that I posted are actually the body hairs that extend beyond the quills on a porcupine. No relation to feather quills in the least. Also, some of the nicest quill body flies are tied with moose mane hairs. Or you could use Peccary (wild boar). Or you could use horse mane hair as well. If you hear someone mention a quill body...just ask em, do you mean a peacock herl quill, a chicken feather quill or a body hair from a mammal?

Rooster Quills

rooster_quills for quill bodies 01.jpg

Porcupine Guard Hairs

porcupine_quills and guard hairs.jpg

Moose Mane

moose_mane piece.jpg

Would anyone like to clarify the mess I just made?

w