Bodkin / Patterns

Cahill Quill

Wet Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Gregg Dressing (1940)

  • Hook Standard wet-fly hook, regular shank, 6-12
  • Thread Black 6/0-8/0 (waxed silk in the original)

Materials

  • Tail Tan Mottled material
  • Body Stripped quill
  • Hackle Grey hen hackle
  • Wing Tan Mottled material

How to tie it

  1. Mount the hook and start waxed tying thread about one eye-length behind the eye; wind smooth touching turns down the shank to the bend.
  2. Tie in the tail (Tan Mottled) on top of the shank at the bend, about one shank-length long; bind the butts along the shank for a level underbody.
  3. Tie in the body material (Quill) at the bend, return the thread to the two-thirds point, and wind the body forward in touching turns to form a slim, slightly tapered body; tie off.
  4. Prepare a Grey hackle by stripping the soft web from the base; tie it in at the head shiny-side forward, take two or three turns, then sweep the fibers down and back with the left hand and lock them in that position with a few thread wraps.
  5. Select matched wing slips or fibers (Tan Mottled); measure them to reach the end of the tail, and tie them in low over the body with a pinch loop, tips curving down along the body in the classic wet style. Trim the butts on a slope.
  6. Build a small, neat thread head to cover the wing and hackle butts, whip finish, and lacquer the head.

Tying videos

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