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Post by jlibs on Mar 26, 2008 11:49:29 GMT -5
I've been reading a book (I've probably read it 5 times already) by A.K. Best on his Quill Body flies. He has a process for stripping and dying the quills to the appropriate color.
His flies are terrific and he swears by the durability and resemblance to the naturals.
Can we just buy the Quills already stripped and colored/dyed? If so, where?
JLIBS
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Post by jskowron on Mar 26, 2008 16:52:56 GMT -5
Josh,
I recently bought some at Valley Sports Center in Easthampton. They are put out by D's Flies (dsflyes.com). I bought packs in sulphur, red quill, blue wing olive and baetis olive. The also make them in white, black, blue quill, ginger quill, light cahill, PMD, melon quill, and "frying pan PMD." They were $3.50 a pack , and looks like about 20/pack. Let me know and I'll pick you up some (though I don't think you need them to tie an EHC).
Jeff
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Post by DanaC on Mar 26, 2008 17:02:47 GMT -5
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Post by Mark Patenaude on Mar 27, 2008 7:59:39 GMT -5
Dana:
You can get quill bodies any where they sell FT materials on-line.
I prefer Feather-Craft but you also have as stated The Fly Shop, Cabelas, Bob Marriotts, Dan Baileys, etc...
I agree, the bodies look great when done. As you know there are a couple of key things that need to be done to make them look that way but I don't agree on the durability. They are somewhat brittle and trout's teeth will wear them out pretty fast.
I like to soak the quills first to soften them up before wrapping, wrap them so when they dry, they will form to the shank and once the water dries, I put a VERY light coat of Fly Tite head cement on them. It traps the air inside the quill and doesn't effect the floatability and gives them a bit more durability.
Write me if you can't find the quills you are looking for and I'll help. I've got a drawer full of them from various distributors and I'll look at them and tell you which distributor has the best. I suspect Hare-Line.
Mark
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