Quill Wing Dry Fly Tying Instructions by Charlie Craven 

Excellent tying and first class video lesson.

I have been tying for 50 years and I remember that was all we tied was with duck feathers. And I was so frustrated because I had such a hard time getting them right. This was an outstanding beautiful fly. Thank you for sharing.

Techniques up the whazoo, great Charlie, appreciate ya sharing.

Awesome Charlie! Thanks for the tips.

So awesome!!! And you make it look so easy!!

Man I been trying this for years first try after this video and they look awesome thank you so very much sir

Beautiful job bro Amazing work talent right there only in my dreams maybe someday.

Charlie I just want to drop you a thank you .I have tried for years(I've been tying for over 50+ yrs.) and have all but now given up on tying in quill wings. And on another pattern you demonstrated how to do a figure 8 when splitting micro fibets. Both your teachings have been loaded into my files .THANK YOU ! Ken👍Tight lines Charlie.

Nicely done Charlie! Isn't it funny how a pair of those wings turning out well just makes you happy?!?! Excellent work!

Terrific demonstration.....Your attention to material details before you place them on the hook is infectious, I love learning from your videos and commentary. Thanks Charlie.

Thank You for taking the extra time to show in extreme detail how each wrap of thread lays in place toward the final goal..... each time I watch this I pick up another detail. Take Care

Excellent instruction on how to tie the duck quill wings! This takes me back to when I first began tying flies… Now that I’ve taken it up again, it’s time to give these a go. 🎣

Very nice tutorial, Charlie. These traditional techniques are an elegant part of the art. Nicely done.

Always keep my mom content -- so it is a deal; thanks for the hot tips on this old pattern with the newer thread, CC. I know it is likely heretical to some, but on gentle, slower water, I often clip the underside of the hackle on these. Still holding out hope for your Dry Fly Patterns book in 2024!

Great classic fly Charlie. Like you said quill wings are definitely an acquired skill. Practice doesn't make perfect but it does make better practice. Thanks for sharing this fly.

Bwahahaha 😂 I did exactly as my mom said. LoL And this is why I watch all of your videos to the very end… Sure wish I saw quill wings more often myself.

You never cease to amaze me Charlie! Absolutely beautiful! Growing up in PA, these and flank feather wings were what you found in the shops50 years ago, and they caught fish. Came to CO 40 years ago and never saw any. Have tied my own but nowhere near as beautiful as you. You have taught me so much. Thank you.

Charlie of all trades, master of ALL! 👍👍👍

Absolutely amazing, love watching you tie this. Cant wait to try...thanks

Nice job Charlie I love duck slip wings thank you for the tip on making a couple post wraps around them and the glue at the base of them.

Great fly and great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge and skill with us. Really looking forward to the next one.

Beautiful tie. One to aspire to someday!

Amazing job on the quill wings.

The last few years, my thread of choice has been 30 D GSP. I just love the stuff. Thank you for the tips on how to set the wings I like white thread too. I just color as needed with a sharpie. I don't even use a whip finishing tool much. Just a little Zap a Gap for the last couple of turns of thread, some pressure the glue sets and that's it. Whip finish in a bottle. As usual a first rate instructional video.

my jump into tying fully dressed salmon flies started by learning to tie classic winged dries and especially winged wet flies...most people dont tie em cause they cant....great job on the tying by the way..very nice..alot of the classic winged wet flies also used 4 wing slips instead of 2 if you feel like getting really frisky...

Once upon a time select fly shops used to be filled with these flies around 1980’s and then they disappeared completely. As a commercial tier myself for the last 30 years I’m slowly getting orders for these flies again but these new age fly fisherman want these jig style flies and perdigon nymphs because that is all they know and that’s just not fly fishing in my books.

This is the perfect imitation for the stonefly hatch we have going on right now. Thank you!!

Love the old school ties. Somewhere I have an old Thompson tool that helped prepare these wings in bulk kind of like a comb.

That may be the most beautiful fly I’ve ever seen you tie and you’ve tied some beauties! You mentioned your “no hackle” quill pattern but I don’t recall seeing it? I would love to see your technique for that.

Most Traditional Catskill quill wing flies are done with double slip wings. I can tell you from experience, that makes things a whole lot more challenging.

I would love to see some classic streamers, ie ghost style flies.

Nice

Ninja, dude! Just ninja! 🙂

Have you thought about doing one of the A.K. Best style parachutes with the hen hackle wings?

Charlie, next fly to hackle tip wings

Charlie is digging his fly. I haven’t tied quill wings in a long time but I appreciate the nice work you did here, Charlie. It came out beautiful though if I had to critique something, it would be the length of the wings. I think they are a bit too long.

I used to tie these and occasionally used a wing burner. Until I discovered the fish didn't care. Nice tie.

I want to pass on a tip I learned from Barry Ord Clark when wrapping turkey quills. He trims off the translucent side of the quill so that when you wrap the quill forward you get twice as many wraps no the body .On a # 14 ,say 6,7 wraps when a normal Biot would get maybe 4-5 at the most .I use this method on #14 to 20 Biot flies.Bye for now .

Question, would solarez flex work in lieu of flex seal? I think I might like tying these again if they just held up better!

Did you say flex seal on those duck feathers?

👏👏👏👏👍

You did kill the quill wings, they look beautiful. I am more of a Wally Wing kind of guy. I find them easier and less finicky 👍

Nicely done, however I'm a bit bummed that for this 'eastern' style dry fly (wouldn't call it Catskill) you used Whiting hackle rather than a bird from a eastern hackle raiser like Charlie Collins or Sideling Hill. Whiting has this insane barb count that makes a too dense hackle collar and especially the curved barbs which doesn't look right on a sparsely hackled dry fly. To really go Catskill style dry fly we would use a double slip mallard quill wings!

Your arrogance is well earned. 😂

I caught my biggest cutthroat on a quill wing fly. I love them!!