Faux Waterhen Bloa

[tie2fish]

This may be of interest to those who have not been able to acquire waterhen feathers. Acting on a tip from John Shaner, I picked up a Gambel's Quail skin at the show in Somerset, and used it to tie this fly. It is not an exact substitute, lacking a little in the dun overtones of waterhen, but it is certainly pretty close ...

Hook: Daiichi 1640
Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer #3 primrose, moderately waxed
Hackle: Feather from the neck area of a Gambel's quail
Body: Thread wraps lightly touch dubbed with natural mole

[CreationBear]

That's very cool--I was wondering how long it was going to take for everyone's "Somerset swag" to shake out.

A question: am I right that waterhen/coot/Gambel quail is a bit darker than what most of us would call a light blue dun? I've always been curious about various "gamebird equivalents" to hen hackle--Mike C. I believe calls plover a perfect dark honey dun, but I'm not sure where other feathers would lie on the continuum.

[Kelly L.]

BEAUTIFUL FLY!!!

[willowhead]

Hey Bill.....that came out dang nice. The Gambles is one of bout a half dozen things Mike was saving for me. Ya snooze, ya loose. Lookin' like i may never get it now. i'm not bout to add shipping (insult) to the (injury of) the basic cost, under the circumstances.......meaning it may never get used by me.
Your fly is VERY nice.
i'm so completely over-whelmed trying to figure out what to do with all this crap here.............i can't even figure out where to begin........... Oh well.

[redietz]

A question: am I right that waterhen/coot/Gambel quail is a bit darker than what most of us would call a light blue dun?

Yes. Waterhen often looks to me like it was made of pewter.

[Ruard]

I think BLOA says it all: a dark grey like a thundercloud.

Beautiful ty Bill, like the body the moooost of it. so difficult to spread the mole hairs evenly and not to fat.

Greeting

[William Anderson]

Bill that hackle is a nice one to have. How are the sizes compared to waterhen? What size did you tie this on...given the proportions of that hook.

[tie2fish]

Bill that hackle is a nice one to have. How are the sizes compared to waterhen? What size did you tie this on...given the proportions of that hook.

Aye, there's the rub. I used a neck feather for this fly because the dark edging is more pronounced, and it's some bigger than coverts from a waterhen. The hook is a #12 Daiichi 1640, which looks smaller than most 12's because of the short shank. However, the upper wing coverts on the quail are roughly the same size as those on waterhen, so you could tie down to a #16 if you wished.

[tie2fish]

A question: am I right that waterhen/coot/Gambel quail is a bit darker than what most of us would call a light blue dun?

Yes. Waterhen often looks to me like it was made of pewter.

That is an excellent color comparison, Bob. Especially old pewter with a touch of patina on it.

[tie2fish]

Hey Bill.....that came out dang nice. The Gambles is one of bout a half dozen things Mike was saving for me. Ya snooze, ya loose. Lookin' like i may never get it now. i'm not bout to add shipping (insult) to the (injury of) the basic cost, under the circumstances.......meaning it may never get used by me.
Your fly is VERY nice.
i'm so completely over-whelmed trying to figure out what to do with all this crap here.............i can't even figure out where to begin........... Oh well.

Thanks, Mark. And if you're referring to Mike Hogue, I may have got "your" quail, as I scored both that and a really nice hen Chinese partridge skin at the Badger Creek booth.