The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning

The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning

Dry

Quill Body Mayfly

Insect Species Icon Quill Gordon, Blue Wing Olive, Callibaetis and 8 others
Difficulty Icon Medium - 5-7 Min
Water Category Icon Coldwater

Tying Video

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Tying Recipe
  • Hook: Standard dry fly hook down-eye size #12
  • Thread: UTC 70 denier brown olive
  • Tail: Coq-de-Leon
  • Body: Synthetic tapered peacock quill coated with clear UV resin
  • Wing: Hemmingways mayfly wings
  • Hackle: Dry fly hackle black
  • Hook: Use any down-eye dry fly hook of your choice
  • Thread: Use and thin diameter thread that you like. Go as thin as you are comfortable, but try not to go thicker than 8/0 or 70 denier. thread color to match hackle.
  • Tail: Pheasant tail is always a great tailing material, however Coq-de-Leon is much stronger.
  • Body: A great quill that makes an excellent body is turkey quill. Goose quill is too short.
  • Wing: Polypropylene makes a great wing material.
  • Hackle: Use and dry fly hackle that you like. Match the color to the specific bug you are trying to match.

With only a few materials needed to make dry flies work, it probably isn’t the best idea to go starting to add excess materials to this. However, if you find something that works, or that you like, go ahead and try it. Colors for this pattern however, are endless. Tie this up in any flavor and size of mayfly that you’re wanting to replicate, and this pattern will do it well.

This is an incredibly realistic mayfly pattern that should fool any trout that crosses its path. With the segmented quill body, this fly has great realism to the actual bugs that have this segmentation. One thing about this fly, is that the body is mostly synthetics and glue, so this fly might need a little more dry fly floatant than others.

Fish this as a single dry, or as the tag fly on a double dry rig, dropped behind a small terrestrial. Be sure to use plenty of dry fly floatant to help this fly ride high on the surface of the water. Dead drift this fly as best as you can.

Blue Wing Olive

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West
Blue Wing Olive
Sizes: #16 - #24
Region: Northwest
Blue Wing Olive
Sizes: #16 - #24
Region: East
Blue Wing Olive
Sizes: #16 - #24
Region: Southeast
Blue Wing Olive
Sizes: #16 - #24
Region: Midwest
Blue Wing Olive
Sizes: #16 - #24

Brown Drake

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West
Brown Drake
Sizes: #10 - #14
Region: Northwest
Brown Drake
Sizes: #10 - #14
Region: East
Brown Drake
Sizes: #10 - #14
Region: Midwest
Brown Drake
Sizes: #10 - #14

Callibaetis

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West
Callibaetis
Sizes: #12 - #18
Region: Northwest
Callibaetis
Sizes: #12 - #18
Region: East
Callibaetis
Sizes: #12 - #18
Region: Midwest
Callibaetis
Sizes: #12 - #18

Green Drake

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West, Northwest, Midwest
Green Drake
Sizes: #8 - #14
Region: East
Green Drake
Sizes: #8 - #14

Hendrickson

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: East, Midwest
Hendrickson
Sizes: #10 - #16

Isonychia

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: East
Isonychia
Sizes: #12 - #18
Region: Southeast
Isonychia
Sizes: #12 - #18
Region: Midwest
Isonychia
Sizes: #12 - #18

Light Cahill

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: East
Light Cahill
Sizes: #12 - #20
Region: Midwest
Light Cahill
Sizes: #12 - #20
Region: Northwest
Light Cahill
Sizes: #12 - #20

Mahogany Dun

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West, Northwest
Mahogany Dun
Sizes: #14 - #20
Region: East, Midwest
Mahogany Dun
Sizes: #14 - #20

March Brown

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West, East
March Brown
Sizes: #10 - #14
Region: Northwest
March Brown
Sizes: #10 - #14
Region: Midwest
March Brown
Sizes: #10 - #14

PMD

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: West, Northwest, East, Southeast, Midwest
PMD
Sizes: #14 - #20

Quill Gordon

Regional Hatch Chart Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Region: East, Southeast
Quill Gordon
Sizes: #12 - #16

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