In my opinion this is one of the best dry flies ever. The materials i used in this step by step are just samples. This just gives you a breif picture of how to successfully tie the fly, Parachute's i call em.

I fish these in size 20#-26#, they do catch my loads of fish and represent alot of insects emerging in the surface film. I mostly prefer not to use dubbing, it aids the bouyancy and helps the fly float alot better. Dubbing or no dubbing they both work. Everyone should have parachutes in their fly box all season, if your stuck with matching the hatch a parachute with a black thread body and black hackle on a size 20# hook will definatly improve your catch rate.

I am a pure dry fly angler and i will say dry fly fishing is the most exciting thing in the art of fly fishing and fly tying. Tying your own drys and catching fish on them is a big boost of confindence. The little parachute gnats are on my leader 80% of the season and i have caught probably over 400 fish on them this season. Goodluck and get tying, i just had to share this with you because its turned my fishing life around.

So lets get started..


Step One:
Spin the thread and work your way down the hookshank, stop the thread between the point of the hook and the barb. I never tie the thread past the barb of the hook. Some people do it and some people don't but proportion always comes first and puts yours flies on the road to success quicker.


Step two:
Select a large hackle from the back of a cheap feather cape. Pluck off some hackle fibres and tie them in for a tail. 4-6 fibres should do the trick.


Step three:
Now select some polpropylene yarn and tie it in on top of the hookshank will a couple of tight turns.


Step Four:
Pull the floating yarn upwards and give the thread a couple of wraps infront of the polypropylene yarn. This should leave your yarn pointing upwards at 12o'clock.


Step five:
This can be a tricky part to complete but with a bit of practice you will be completing this stage in seconds. Hold the yarn upwards tightly and wrap the thread around the yarn which will give you a result called a wingpost. The wing post will look like this.


Step six:
Wrap the thread back down the hookshank half way and then trim off the remaining yarn. This gives you a tapered body and helps the fly look alot better. As shown in the picture.


Step Seven: choose your choice of dubbing, I prefer not to use dubbing at times which aids alot of bouyancy. When fishing fast watter i just use plain thread bodies on my parachutes. Dub the dubbing onto the thread and tightly wrap it up the hookshank leaving a small gap where you can tie in your hackle.


Step Eight:
This is very helpful and is a must when tying parachutes. Apply a small amount of varnish to the wingpost. This stops it moving and holds the hackle in the one place when it is wound tightly around the wingpost. With no varnish the hackle and wingpost will be loose and this causes the parachute to sit incorrectly in the surface film.


Step Nine:
Tie the hackle in by the side of the wing post and make sure the good side is facing upwards, if not this will cause the hackle to be wound upside down. It would not be a problem but its totally out of my league. Genetic hackles and saddles are best for parachutes and dries. For this step by step i used a Keough hackle which i am quite happy with. So... tie the hackle in as shown


Step Ten:
Now the tail, the body, the wingpost and hackle is all in the place but first you have to fill in the little gap you left for tying in the hackle. Simply select a little bit of dubbing and fill in the gap.


Step Eleven:
The hackle, it has now to wraped around the wingpost in a clockwise turn. Give the hackle 2-4 wraps depending on how good your hackle is. Use a pair of hackle plyers which are very usefull. Place the hackle tip in the plyers and wrap the hackle around the post untill you agree with what it looks like. Leave the hackle in the plyers and let it hang looose. This will keep the hackle secure because of the weight of the plyers. Wet your fingers and pull the hackle back and hold it with your thumb and index finger. Tie down the hackle tightly until you feel its secure as shown in the picture.


Step Twelve:
Your finished result will look like this.


Step Thirteen:
Dub the thread again and create a nice level thorax as shown in the picture below. Whip finish and enjoy your little parachute.
This is what your fly should look like.


Here is a picture of some size 20# parachutes which i fished with today in fast moving water, As you see there is no dubbing on them which aided the bouyancy. I had a bucket loads of wild brownies to them wee dries. Such crack.



Hope you all enjoy this and i hope it can bring you luck for the rest of the dry fly season.
Tightlines to everyone.

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Cromie

Nice work, Matt,

Roy

Nice fly as always, Matt.

Do you wind your hackle down or up? I used to have problems with that until I got pointed to the method of winding down.

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Roddy

"Sod it! I am going out to sink a klink!"

Very nice Matt no wonder they catch fish ,look like a bunch of little helicopters!Lol well done on the step by step.

Pete

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Thanks to all who donated to 999 comp 2011
New rainbow PB 22 lbs Bangour 23/10/2011

Excellent, and great tip about not going past the barb. Unfortunately my vice is knackered and won't hold very small hooks.

Well i usually do 3 turns of hackle on the post, I do to turns up the wingpost and 1 turn down. Both ways work but if your doing your whip finish at the wingpost then you have to wind upwards.

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Cromie

You don't need small hooks. Size 14's work good too.

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Cromie

nice one matt those look dam lethal , going to tie some up , nice step by step,

cheers
mick

Get urself some danvilles thread or spiderweb thread in 8/0 and 12/0 it will help alot.

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Cromie

Cromie just wandering if you fish these on the hook sizes above what material and strength leader do you use?

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