These should float...

[Steve Walker]

Normally tie these on a #14 and trim the rear leg of foam and whip it down. Last time I used them, they weren't quite keeping a tungsten beaded nymph up, so these are on a #12 with double the foam - should do the trick!



(Have a nasty feeling they're going to tangle pretty badly though)

[maharg]

Yip, pretty sure they will spin like a top.
Like the idea though.
Fished New Zealand style they might not be to bad, rather than on a dropper.

[Steve Walker]

Agreed.

I've just tied one with the foam tied in at one end, folded back and whipped in at the other end (so that the post is a loop) which might be less troublesome. Too dark out to photograph it now.

[noeyedeer]

Use thicker booby cord, then you still only need one end. Cut a taper to tie it in.

[Scratch]

Steve they'll float like cork with just one piece of foam... WTF are you planning on fishing underneath them?

[JeffR]

Couple of thoughts:

- Would a lighter guage hook help?

- ditch the foam! Oddly enough, I have tried klinks with foam posts and traditional sight posts and the latter actually seem to float better. When you think about it, a foam head on a suspender buzzer acts differently, holding the pattern up in the surface film, whereas with a parachute hackle its the hackle which is supposed to hold the fly up, not the post, so the foam is not actually necessary - if the hackle does its job properly the foam will be above the water, redundant, and if the hackle doesn't support the fly then its not working properly anyway. The foam even perhaps adds unecessary bulk/weight compared to a few strands of light yarn. A yarn post is also more visible as its a bit taller.

[Steve Walker]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Steve they'll float like cork with just one piece of foam... WTF are you planning on fishing underneath them?

I normally use the single bit of foam with no problems holding up the wee goldhead on the right - the tungsten beaded ones on the left don't work so well, but last time I fished, that's what the grayling wanted. So I wanted a larger version.



---------- Post added at 07:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:47 PM ----------

Originally Posted by noeyedeer

Use thicker booby cord, then you still only need one end. Cut a taper to tie it in.

Aye, that would work - if I had some thicker booby cord

[Steve Walker]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Couple of thoughts:

- Would a lighter guage hook help?

Maybe, I don't usually tie them in a #12, so didn't have anything finer lying about.

I could try some without it - the thing with foam is that it actually floats, whereas a traditional parachute hackle just sits in the surface film. Once it gets drowned, that's it, with the foam, drowning it might lose the presentation of the fly but at least it should pop back up and continue to work as an indicator for the rest of the drift.

[danielp]

What about scrapping the hackle? would possibly help the foam sit in the water properly and aid floatation? Booby cord should easily hold up relatively small tungsten bugs?!

[noeyedeer]

Originally Posted by Steve Walker

Aye, that would work - if I had some thicker booby cord

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