04/07/2026
Tuesday's tie is Bob Quigley's Film Critic!
Join us April 7th for a detailed tie by our Vice President! Those who know Mark know he is a very detail oriented fly tyer, and tonight he'll show us how it's done while tying a very detailed fly.
One of Bob Quigley's most popular patterns is the Film Critic, a great name for a brilliant pattern. Using Quigley's own ground-breaking Hackle Stacker hackling technique for flotation and the impression of legs, an ingeniously constructed yet simple trailing shuck, an accurately low hanging nymphal body coupled to an adult thorax and upright advanced wing, the Film Critic creates the impression of a mayfly nymph hanging in the surface film, distracted by its own stuttered emergence.
Half nymph, half adult, the Film Critic mimics a mayfly at its most compromised stage, dangling a nymphal abdomen below the surface while leaving an adult wing profile above to both better fool the target as well as provide good fly pattern visibility for fly fishers.
In keeping with form following function, the abdomens of all Film Critics are ribbed with copper wire, not only to reinforce, but, in Quigley's eyes, to add a bit of weight and allow the pattern to hang at the proper angle at the surface.
Using a curved hook to better position these important aspects of the fly at the proper place in the trout's view also affords a more than adequate hook gap, even when tied in smaller sizes.
As an added bonus, and contrary to many flatwater patterns, the Film Critic is extraordinarily buoyant, equally at home in the rough waters and pockets of Colorado's Rio Grande as it is on Quigley's slick home waters of the Fall River.
Materials:
Hook: Orvis 1639 emerger hook size 12
Thread: 10/0 Olive
Trailing shock: Mallard flank wood duck gold crinkled zelon copper
Rib: Copper wire
Abdomen: Super fine dubbing olive
Wing post: Polypropylene yarn white
Hackle: Blue dun
Tools:
Quality hackle pliers
