Blue Quill
The Blue Quill is a classic dry fly used to imitate the small mayflies that produce some of the earliest dependable hatches of the trout season. It is especially associated with the Little Blue Quill, Paraleptophlebia adoptiva, which often appears shortly before or alongside Quill Gordons and Hendricksons on Eastern streams. The fly is generally tied in sizes 16 and 18 and fished with a drag-free dead drift. Traditional versions use a stripped peacock quill body, which creates an effective segmented profile but can be fragile, so many tiers reinforce it or substitute more durable materials.
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Recipe
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Hook · Standard Dry Fly Hook
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Thread · Black tying thread
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Tail · Dun hackle fibers
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Body · Stripped peacock quill
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Wing · Mallard wing
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Hackle · Blue dun hackle