I have been handed a big baggie of quail feathers. Are these ok for tying?
what patterns can they be used for. They are some great looking feathers
Quail has lots of uses…
I have used wing covert and primaries for slips on upright feather wings (ie, No-Hackle Dun pattern)
The body feathers are great for soft hackles. Strip one side of barbs and wrap the remaining half as a soft collar hackle.
The after-shaft (fuzzy feather at the base of a body feather) can be used to simulate gills on a nymph pattern or for the wingcase tuft on an RS-2. Some folks use these as a substitute for marabou on small patterns
Coat the body or neck feathers with some Dave’s Flexcement and trim to size for a caddis down wing, hopper wing or shellback.
Some of the small light colored feathers aroud the neck are great for upright fan wing style patterns.
I really like quail for soft hackles. I tie a few fibers for the tail and dub a small body. Then I wrap a quail feather for the hackle. If the feathers is too big, pull some fibers off and tie them in at the head. Try to loose wrap them and get them to go around the hook. This is a little more difficult as you will want to snip the butts of the fibers at the head once you have them tied in.
Bob