Bodkin / Patterns

Quill Jig B/L

Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 2 versions

Fischer's Flies

  • Hook Fulling Mill FM5045 Jig Force, 14
  • Thread Tan 70 denier

Materials

  • Bead Copper bead (Fulling Mill 3.5mm tungsten drop bead)
  • Tail Natural case (Nature's Spirit pheasant tail)
  • Body Ginger spandex life flex (Fulling Mill stripped quills)
  • Thorax dubbing Brown and gold thorax dubbing (Fischer's Flies Perfect Blend Dubbing)
  • Resin Clear uv resin (Solarez Bone Dry)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the 3.5mm copper drop bead on the Jig Force hook small-hole-first and push it to the eye, then start the tan 70 denier behind it and lay a base back to the bend. Keep the base flat and gap-free: the stripped quill is semi-translucent, so the tan thread under it is genuinely part of the colour of the finished body.
  2. Tie in a short clump of natural pheasant tail fibres at the bend for a tail about half a shank long, then bind the butts forward smoothly so there is no step for the quill to climb.
  3. Soak the stripped ginger quill in water for a minute before you use it. A dry quill cracks the moment you put tension on it, and there is no way to rescue a body that splits halfway up the shank.
  4. Tie the quill in at the bend by its thin end and wrap it forward in touching, non-overlapping turns to the 65% mark. The natural taper of the quill produces the segmentation for you, which is the entire point of using it. No rib required.
  5. Coat the quill body with a thin layer of Solarez Bone Dry and cure it. Uncoated quill is beautiful and lasts about one fish; this step is what makes the fly worth tying.
  6. Dub a short, slightly bulky thorax of the brown and gold blend from the 65% mark up to the bead, contrasting deliberately with the smooth abdomen.
  7. Whip finish behind the bead and pick a few dubbing fibres out at the sides with a bodkin for legs.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Reference Recipe.

Tying videos

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