Quill Nymphs and Body Quill Nymphs

Natural stripped peacock quill nymphs are some of the most productive nymphs an angler will ever fish; I use different quill nymphs on nearly every cast throughout the season.

Firstly you must get a good peacock feather and select the quills surrounding the eye of the feather, and then using an eraser rub off the small fibres to leave a clean quill, natural or dyed. Cock de Leon tails work best on this nymph and you can add a small tag to enhance the fly or leave natural. The under body can have fine lead to give the nymph extra weight and the thread must be smooth so the quill sits neatly on the under body of the fly.

Because the quill is quite brittle you must either rib it with clear fine mono or as I do coat it in Loon UV fly paint to give the body durability and it adds a shinny wet look to the fly. Then you can add either Hares ear guard fibers, Glow bright floss, peacock Spectra dubbing, or natural peacock and a thorax cover behind the tungsten head to give the nymph
the desired look.

Another method of tying these very successful nymphs is to use Hends body quills this synthetic material is excellent to form different looks and textures on small quill nymphs, using different colours for the body and the rib you can develop several different nymphs to suit the natural colours of the nymph in the river. Again I coat
the nymphs in Loon UV fly paint for strength and appearance. These nymphs can be tided on grub hooks, gig hooks or small fine wet hooks the smaller the better I generally tie them from size 18 to size 14 for the larger ones.

They can be fished in the early part of the season behind heavy bugs in order to get them down to the fish and during the summer I like to fish them on their own in fast water; also the smaller nymphs can be fished under the dry fly when the fish move higher up in the water.