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Red Quill Spinner
A dry fly, tied #12–16, a spring pattern. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book — April–June.
A spent-wing dry fly for the mayfly spinner fall, tied on a standard dry-fly hook in sizes 12–16 with rust 8/0 thread. Dun hackle fibres splayed wide make the tail, the body is stripped brown hackle quill ribbed thin, the wings are pale dun hen tips or poly set spent, and the medium dun hackle is clipped underneath so the fly rides flush. It represents the male Hendrickson, Ephemerella subvaria, which comes off in April and May in water between 45 and 58 degrees, and it covers the March Brown, Maccaffertium vicarium, of May and June at 50 to 62 degrees. It also serves for mayflies generally. The fishing is an evening affair: the Hendrickson spinner fall in April and May, worked over the same water that carried the afternoon hatch. A spring pattern for trout.
- #12–16Hook size
- dry flyType
- SpringSeason
- 2Hatches matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
- Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria · April–May · 45–58°F · #12–14
- March Brown Maccaffertium vicarium · May–June · 50–62°F · #10–12
It is also tagged for mayflies generally.
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Standard dry-fly hook, sizes 12–16 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Rust 8/0 |
| Tail | Dun hackle fibres, splayed |
| Body | Stripped brown hackle quill, ribbed thin |
| Wings | Pale dun hen tips or poly, spent |
| Hackle | Medium dun, clipped underneath |
When to fish it
The Hendrickson spinner fall, evenings in April and May, on the same water as the afternoon hatch.
A spring pattern. The insects it matches are active april–june, in water from 45°F to 62°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Parachute Adams dry fly · #12–20 — Universal mayfly dun imitation. Every angler carries these.
- Adams (Catskill) dry fly · #12–20 — The original. Rides higher than the parachute in broken water.
- Hendrickson Dun dry fly · #12–14 — Pink-grey body, dun hackle. Matched to the real thing when a general pattern gets refused.
- March Brown dry fly · #10–12 — A large mottled dun for late May afternoons.
- Purple Haze dry fly · #12–18 — A Parachute Adams in purple. Fish it when the honest match keeps getting refused.