Mearns Quail beadhead nymph

A couple of posts ago I reported on staying home from work to tie a few flies. I had tied a dozen beadhead nymphs days before with a Hungarian Partridge skin, and wrote about that here. The morning I played hooky, I wanted to tie a dozen smaller nymphs.

I chose a Mearns Quail skin.  It is smaller than a Hungarian Partridge, or at least this sample of a hen skin is. Both are called "upland birds", and have a similar feather structure. All I needed was one or two of these smaller feathers to tie a nice fly on a size 12 2xl hook.  The results varied somewhat depending on the size of each feather, and depending on whether I tied with or without a tail. The hook used was a size 12 Mustad 72R.

Use the same tying technique as described in the Partridge beadhead nymph step-by-step procedure here.

The Mearns quail rump feathers are perfect for a size 12 2xl hook,
like the Mustad 72R.  I used one feather for the one on the left.
I used two feathers (tip 1/2 only) to make the one on the right.

Hungarian Partridge Beadhead Nymph: Two variations

The Hungarian Partridge nymph post from the other day represents a tried-and-true recipe I have been using for perhaps four or five years.  However, after about a dozen flies, my mind begins to wander and I start substituting materials "just for fun".  After tying a bunch with the original instructions, I tied up a bunch that looked like these two:

Two Beads

The two beads go onto the hook first.
The first feather creates the tail and abdomen.
I then pull the glass bead up tight against the abdomen and tie off the thread.
Then tie in the thread between the two beads and do the
dubbing loop thing with the second feather to create the thorax and legs.

Less the Tail 

A tailess variation. Tied the same as the original instructions except that the first
feather is tied with the tip pointing toward the bead

I have not tried either one of the variations in the water.  But I have no doubt that they will work nicely.

I am thinking of tying a batch with a glass beadhead only.  They might be nice when I don't want the fly to sink as far as it would with a metal beadhead.