nymph
Quilldigon
A dense perdigon nymph with a Polish Quill segmented body, pearl Sulky tag, and black-nail-polish wingcase. Imitates small dark mayfly nymphs in rivers worldwide.
Originated by Devin Olsen
Recipe
- HookDohiku 644 / HDJ / 301 / 302SP — size 16 · Dohiku
- BeadCopper or Silver Slotted Tungsten
- ThreadVeevus 16/0 — Olive or Black · Semperfli
- TailCoq de Leon — 3-4 fibers
- TagPearl Sulky Tinsel
- BodyPolish Quills — Olive / Natural / Amber · Polish Quills
- ShellbackBlack Nail PolishNot a tying material per se — apply with brush
- HotspotFl. Orange 16/0 Veevus (optional)
History
Nearly every trout river on the planet holds small dark mayflies. Devin Olsen began tying the Quilldigon around 2014 as he was experimenting with the Spanish perdigon style. The Polish-quill body looks uncannily like the banded segmentation of a natural mayfly nymph. You can tie it fully drab to be 100% imitative, but Devin finds even better success by adding a pearl Sulky tag or a fluorescent-orange thread hot-spot collar. It's one of the flies he fishes most often from his nymph box.
Fishing tips
The drab version works on picky fish; add the hot-spot variation when you need to pull a fish out of a lie.