"That is night fishing, the essence of angling, the emperor of sports. It is the gorgeous gambling game in which one stakes the certainty of long hours of faceless fumbling, nerve-racking starts, frights, falls and fishless nights against the off-chance of hooking into - not landing necessarily or even hooking into - a fish as long and as heavy as a railroad tie and as unmanageable as a runaway submarin - My favorite Sparse Grey Hackle guote repeated again. Question - Does anyone fish past dusk anymore? I know that some of the Millers Gang does because I'm one of them. The Tailwater Crowd??? Not so much - Sparse and Me
Photo By Thomas Ames, Jr.
This fly, along with the Hendricksons, are my favorite springtime flies.They both hatch at mid day and their life cycle is always spent during bankers hours. But the Quill Gordon is different. First, It's short and squat as most clinger nymphs are. The nymphs are smaller than the hendrickson species even though the adult mayflies are about the same size. (most mistake the Q.G. adult for the hendrickson. The Q.G. has 2 tails, the hendrickson has three) The BIG difference with the Gordon is that this nymph doesn't rise to the surface to shed its nymphal shell or even crawl to a rock to hatch and fly away. This guy sheds its shell ON THE STREAM BOTTOM and rises through the water column as a fully formed adult with its wings trailing behind.
Hook - size 14 to 16 wet or dry style
Body - 3 pheasant tail fibers using the tips as the tail (cut one tip off since the insect only has 2 tails).
Rib - fine cooper wire
Trailing Wing - Grey midge zelon or grey CDC.
Head/Thorax - peacock
The strike to the emerging adult is vicious since they must be rising through the water quickly.
The Ware has a great hatch as does the EB surprisingly. The Millers has hendricksons but no Quill Gordons. The Swift has both but not many.
The Quill Gordons are the official start of my dry fly season. Only 4 months to go.
Ken
12 comments:
I have never personally run into a quill gordon that I know of, then again its been quite some time since I hit the heart of a Hendrickson hatch...the past few years have been "fish when you can" more than "plan when you fish" but thats going to change..I can see where the traditional winged pattern might be a good imitation too which is fun to tie ...any excuse to use a traditional winged patterns is fine by me.
BobT,
If it's mid April to mid May and you are on a trout stream your chances of running into one of these great daytime hatches is very good. When I see them in the air the heavy nymphs come off and the unweighted wets and emergers go on. Next to the dry fly this is the most exciting form of fly fishing especially using the traditional flies.
Ken
Its amazing how many effective flies for fishing bottom to top are made with pheasant tail and peacock. Not that i want to try, but I bet one could be pretty well set just fishing these combos.
"They both hatch at mid day and their life cycle is always spent during bankers hours."
Always is a dangerous word when it comes to bugs and fly fishing. Some of my best Hendrickson fishing (spinners usually but duns occasionally) takes place in the early morning hours if it is either hot or the evening before is stormy and the following morning is mild and windless. On such days I have had the luck of fishing morning spinner falls with nobody on the water, the duns at their traditional time and then another spinner fall.
James,
The post was about NORMAL weather conditions for this hatching fly. I never mentioned the spinner stage for either QC or Hendricksons.
Ken
Years ago there used to be huge hatches of the Q. Gordon on the Squannie from 11ish to 2pm. All you needed was 50 degree water and 60 degree air. I love seeing them.
A.F.
I usually go by myself and the frights are the worst. No matter how well I know an area it always is on the mind. Usually my outing consists of me making noises to not step on any critters' toes.
Lenny
Lenny,
My biggest concern with night fishing is tripping, stumbling or falling. Also I hate changing flies in the dark. I used to tie on something BIG with 2x to solve that problem.
Ken
"...as long and as heavy as a railroad tie and as unmanageable as a runaway submarine."
Love that! Reminds me of connecting with the salmon in Pulaski - like tying into a greyhound bus. I can only imagine what that may feel like in the blind darkness of 2 AM.
I have often threatened to night fish. Dragging a deerhair mouse across the surface of the depths of the lower Swift. And still am dreaming of it.
Your April meander in the midst of our coldest snap so far this fall has me dreaming as well.
Bob O,
You're one of my favorite commentators! My big brown on Sandy Creek in Brockport NY felt the same way.
Sometimes I think that if a few of us met at dark on the Swift or wherever, split up and fished to the wee hours and then met up to tell the tale it would be a good experience. Not now, but from May onward. Just a thought.
The Quill Gordon was meant to ignite some early cabin fever!!!!
Ken
Only 4 months to go until the dry fly season. Ken, thanks for putting that optimistic thought in my mind on a cold and snowy night. It will be here before we know it. Days will be getting longer soon which is always a good sign.
Regards, Sam
Sam,
This is the worst of the year - only 5 days to go til the shortest day of the year and single digit nights. Remember, only 2 months til the sap runs!!!!
Ken
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