I found a few packages of pre-stripped and dyed hackle quills at a fly shop once and bought a pack. I tied up some size A.K. Best style 16 PMD parachutes with them for a fly swap, and I had 4 left. I fished them yesterday and they were great. floated like corks, and during the PMD hatch the fish absolutly approaved of them too.
So heres the question. Does anyone know where to get pre-stripped and dyed hackle quills?
I have A.K.'s book on stripping and dying tying supplies (which is great by the way), but I haven’t had much luck finding suitable hackle. Plus I am lazy and wouldn’t mind buying some until I have time to mess with stripping and dying my own.
May I suggest trying the biots from turkey quill.s that is about all I use anymore. Easy to use and easy to get now day’s I just finished 10 dozen size 18 Rusty Spinner’s using them and am now tying 10 dozen PMD quill body dries with them. Like I said easy to get in the right color and easy to use. And they do not cost much. You get enough to do about 20 to 25 dozen flies in a pack of two quill’s.
There is a product out called McLean’s Quill Body’ They come in about 10 colors and work well but are not cheap at $4.95 per pack. The Turkey Biot’s will run you about $2.00 a pair. Much cheaper but the Mclean’s are man made thus the price difference.
To tell you the truth I don’t know anyone that sell’s the old style hackle quill’s already stripped anymore. I always made my own. Just put a bunch of hackle in bleach and watched it real close. When the hackle was about bare I would dip them in Baking Soda water to stop the reaction of the Bleach. Then you can dye them any color you may want. Ron
Feather Craft,Cabela’s, Ehillie Angler Supply House, Hook&Hackle… about any good fly shop should carry Dee’s Quill’s… A lot of different companies marketing them these days…
Feather-Craft also sells Turkey Rounds…and has instructions for use for very fast dry fly bodies… Not Quill but fast and durable body material…
Ron’s suggestion of Biot’s is a good one to for some patterns…
Quill bodies will always be my favorite material…Just makes the best representation of the waxy segmented mayfly body,That I’ve seen to date.
Veniards, who are a very well known supplier over here do a selection of
stripped cock feathers in a variety of colours. I don’t know how available they are in the U.S.
A lot of the older dry fly patterns specified quill bodies, they were thought to be less liable to get water logged, and looked very insectlike.
Although the favourite is stripped peacock eye quill which gives a very good segmented effect.
Thanks for the help folks.
I guess I didn’t look long enoough, because sure enough there are some out there! :oops:
I really like the look and the boyancy(sp) of the quill bodies.
I have had a hard time finding hackle from my local flyshops that has substantial enough quills to provide a very saticfactory body. Omaha (if you count council bluffs) has about 4 places with flytying supplies, and none of them are very extensive. The best I have found for stripping for quills are chineese saddles, but I am not really saticfied even with them.
Donald, I finally started using an eraser to strip my peacock quills after getting tired of having little stickers under my thumb nail.
I don’t have dyed quills but I do have dyed hair that I call DST Quills. Be glad to send you some if you email me your snail addy. IMHO they work better than dyed hackle quills for hook sizes 10 - 18. Smaller than that the hackle quills do work better because of the taper.
The previous posters all gave good sources for the stripped quills.
I’ve bought them from Feathercraft, and they have two size diameters
( regular, and thinner ) and many colors.
I like the segmented look of the quills and of biots and the ease in wrapping them - now I mainly use them for the abdomen portion of dries.
As I’m sure you know, soaking them in water for a few minutes helps their pliability. Last time that I tied up a few quill bodies, I placed them in a moist paper towel ( Bounty 'cause its strong ) and microwaved them for about 30-45 seconds. I think that made them even more pliable.
You may want to try it on a couple and see what you think.
I also give non-CDC winged/hackled flies a liberal coating ( or two ) of Watershed after tying them and let them dry for a day after each coat.
I end up not usually having to put any floatant on them streamside.
Pastor Ed,
I’ve been a big fan of quill bodied flies since seeing A.K.'s videos and reading his books because I, too, think they make the most realistic bodies, are very easy to tie with, and float well. A couple of years ago I bought a Whiting Quill Bodied Cape, bred especially for using the quills for bodies, but I don’t know if they still sell them or not. I stripped and dyed the feathers using the instructions in A.K.'s book and it was pretty easy, a lot cheaper than buying the quills prepackaged already stripped and dyed. You might check catalogs to see if they are still sold or not.
Joe
