I know this sounds like splitting hairs but I am planning on tying some Quill Gordon's for some friends as part of an annual fly swap ritual. I want to tie them as closely as possible to either the EXACT Gordon recipe or the version tied by Harry Darbee or Walt Dette. Unfortunately when I had the pleasure of meeting Harry & Walt way back when I was young & dumb; I was too stupid to buy a few flies.
In any case I know the important stuff but I have two simple but nit-picky questions regarding thread color & ribbing. Again I am trying to find out the preference of Theo, Harry, or Walt:I realize that many may think it is stupid to worry about such trivial matters and on normal flies I don't worry so much; but to me half the fun of tying a classic fly is trying to do it with accuracy in regards to color & construction.
- #1 - I've seen recipes saying black, cream, or yellow thread, so far. Does anybody know what color the representative tyers used?
#2 - To rib or not to rib the quill body? If so, did any of the three tyers do it and if so did they use wire or thread and what color.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!