Who Packed Your Parachute?
By Tim Rolston
Smashwords Edition
Rev 06.04.2011
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Copyright Tim Rolston 2010
License Notes:
This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.
Cover design by Tim Rolston
Graphics by Tim Rolston
Also by Tim Rolston, :
Build your own Fly-Fishing Lanyard Smashwords
Learn to Fly-Cast in a Weekend excerpts Smashwords
(The above title is also available in full copy paperback)
Who Packed Your Parachute?
NOW WITH PHOTOGRAPHIC STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS.
Better ways to tie more durable versions of these popular patterns.
Why parachutes?
A growing number of fly anglers rely on parachute flies more than the traditional Catskill or Halfordian styles that were the mainstay of dry fly designs for years. Many of the variations of dry flies were stuck on the idea that the “standard dry fly style” of cock hackle wound around perpendicular to the shank of the hook as a collar just behind the eye was the ultimate answer.
Sure there were “innovations”, Mallard Quill wings, Wood Duck Wings, variations of body materials, quill, dubbing and all sorts. Even extended bodies, and trailing shucks of various materials and some wayward tyers even made the things backwards. Vincent Marinaro, the champion of dry fly fishing and author of “A Modern Dry Fly Code”, developed his “Thorax Ties” but in all these patterns the same basic principles held sway. Wind the hackle around the hook shank so that the fly “sat up”. My admittedly limited research as to who invented the parachute style didn’t produce much of a result but apparently an American called William Brush applied for a patent of the parachute pattern in 1931.
The original concept appears to be, as the name suggests, to slow the decent of the fly on its downward trajectory to the water, producing a far more gentle and delicate presentation. Whether that effect really is of import is debatable, but what has come out of fly design changes is the fact that frequently fish accept flies that are “in the film” and not floating “high and dry”. Such that patterns that are low riding appear, at least at times to work far better than their high riding counterparts. That could be because the trout focus on the emergers, stillborns or the trapped duns as being easier to pick off, but whatever the reason low floating flies have definitely found a place in the dry fly angler’s arsenal.
The popularity of Comparaduns, Spunduns, Emergers and Klinkhamers stand as at least subjective testimony to the efficacy of low floating flies, at least some of the time. Many of these low riding flies make use of parachute hackles.
On a more pragmatic note, many anglers, myself included, like the fact that parachute flies tend not to get crushed when stored in a fly box, or trapped on the hook keeper of your rod. They land the right way up every time, unlike the traditional flies which tend to land nose down or upside down at the critical moment. The hook isn’t obscured, an important factor in micro flies in particular where limited hook gape already makes hooking the fish a tad more tricky and the post of the parachute makes for a useful sighter on the water, again very useful in the micro-pattern end of things. So when you look at it, parachutes are real winners for the practical angler and yet they took a long time in gaining general acceptance. Probably mostly for the worst of all reasons , the idea that “this was the way we always tied dry flies and this is the way they are supposed to be tied”.. the “it is the way we have always done things” is the greatest hurdle to innovation, particularly in a traditionally biased sport such as fly angling.
So let’s look at the advantages of the parachute style.
Delicate presentation
Virtually perfect right way up landings every time.
Ease of storage without damage
Clear hook gapes, particularly important on micro patterns
Better floatation with the use of less hackle offering a more sparse profile.
Flexibility in terms of the proportions, (standard hackles if tied to match real insect dimensions frequently become unstable, whereas with parachutes you can vary the hackle wing and tail dimensions with very little effect on the presentation of the fly.)
Problems with tying parachutes.
The first parachute flies that I became aware of required the use of special “Gallows” tools for their manufacture and for a long time people tied parachutes with such devices which made them far more troublesome to make than standard hackle flies. Yet another barrier to rapid acceptance, with tiers not seeing the point of spending money on more tools and going to more trouble when the standard flies were apparently just fine.
The breakthrough really came with the idea of tying the parachute hackle around some form of “post” sticking up at right angles to the shank, in fact there are even hooks made with a post built in. Boar bristle, nylon and all manner of contrivances have been tried but the most common posts today would be those of hair or artificial polypropylene yarn. Even when the fly doesn’t require an upright wing in terms of imitation such as with caddis or emerger patterns the post is still unobtrusive and yet offers a visual advantage to the angler trying to track a tiny imitation on a bubbling stream.
Even now however many anglers find that parachute patterns are less durable than their Catskill style counterparts, the hackle having a nasty tendency to ride up the post and unravel, this is simply a function of less than effective tying procedures some of which are hangovers from the good old days, primarily focusing on tying the hackle off on the hook shank as one would with a standard Catskill style or Halford style fly. In fact this is particularly a problem with commercially tied flies and this has further lead to many anglers who purchase rather than tie flies steering away from parachutes as they are seen as fragile.
Over the years my personal dry fly selection has gradually grown to include more and more parachute style flies to the point that I rarely if ever fish “standard hackle” patterns anymore and part of the reason that these flies make up such a large proportion of the patterns in my stream box is that finally I have honed the manufacturing process to the point where I have total faith in the design, durability and speed with which I can tie them.
Not my own ideas.
Most of the innovations are not my own, but a compendium of methods gleaned from others. I used to, like almost everyone else, simply tie the hackle to the hook shank, wind it around the post, which of necessity meant that the hackle criss crossed itself on the way up and down the post and then would tie off the ends once more on the hook shank just behind the eye.
This is the worst possible design, it provides slack in the hackle giving it a propensity for unraveling and at the same time give a rather untidy finish and wastes hackle as the fibres cross and squash one another.
Further, again as a hangover from the past, I would wind the hackle clockwise around the post which means that when you torque down the ends against the hook shank to finish you effectively loosen the wound hackle even further leaving even greater probability of failure whilst in use. Most of these parachutes were good for only a fish or two before falling to pieces.
Improving the design and tying over time.
Innovation #1:
This wasn’t actually the first innovation but it comes first in the tying sequence, whereas I used to tie in the post material atop the hook I now double it over around the hook shank, I find that I can get a slimmer body and waste less material doing it this way. The trouble was with getting it in place but I have found that using your “non tying hand” to flip the bobbin around the base of the post suddenly makes this method very easy. In this updated version of the book I have also added a complete sequence of tying what I refer to as a BSP (Bog Standard Parachute), you can adapt it to any combination of materials. The SBS sequence is shown at the end of the book.
Innovation #2:
In Skip Morris’s excellent book on tying dry flies, (Morris has published a range of exceptional fly tying books with perhaps the clearest of instructions to be found anywhere for the novice fly tyer), he shows a method of tying parachutes where the hackle is not tied to the hook shank to start but to the post before anything much else is done. This is a clear improvement on the previous way of doing things, keeping the hackle out of the way and more importantly meaning that you can wind the hackle down the post only, instead of up and down. This means no slack and less chance of falling apart, it also gives a far neater finish to the hackle.
Innovation #3.
Came from Oliver Edwards in his brilliant book, “Oliver Edwards Flytyer’s Master Class”. Specifically his description of Von Klinken’s “Klinkhammer” pattern. Not only was the hackle tied to the post but Edwards then took the unconventional and to start with rather tricky decision to whip finish the fly around the base of the post, catching in the wound hackle as the final step of the tying process. It isn’t easy but at the same time allows you to get an incredibly neat and clean finish to the fly an to build the pattern with a proper head. One of my great dislikes of standard hackle flies is that their proportions are not correct. Mayflies for example have heads, and the wings and legs are not positioned at the very front of the body. Marinaro recognized this with his thorax ties and I still prefer to tie my parachutes with the wing a fraction further back towards the bend of the hook than is commonly accepted.
Innovation #4.
It has to be said that I don’t really like flies tied by sticking bits to them with glue, it seems something of an affront to the art, but here I have learned to make an exception. Instead of the more bulky and rather complicated process of whip finishing around the post and under the hackle as per Edwards, I now use a “Super Glue Whip Finish” on almost all of my parachute patterns. Instead of multiple wraps around the post which tends to push the hackle upwards I simply wet a few millimeters of tying thread with cyanoacrylate glue, wrap twice around the base of the post, catching in the hackle and pull tight. Again the super glue trick was one learned from the Italian National Team at a World Championship event, although at the time they weren’t applying the principle to parachutes specifically.
Tied using the combination of these four innovations the flies are neat, simple, quick to tie and as durable as a house brick. Almost all of my parachute patterns now get retired because the body materials fail but the hackles never come unwound, NEVER.
Full tying sequence step by step of the “New Style”.
(Please note that this diagram has been superseded by doubling the post around the hook shank, you can see this in the photographic SBS illustrations shown later.)
First tie in the post, a little way back from the eye of the hook, I prefer to leave space to build a head on most of the mayfly patterns in particular. Note: This method has been superseded by one where I double the post material around the shank of the hook. Check out the sequence at the end of this book which shows each step in clear photographs.
Then trim the butts of the post material.
Tie in the hackle winding the thread up and back down the post, this not only grips the hackle securely but also adds rigidity to the base of the post making winding the hackle far easier later on.
Tie in tails if your pattern requires them and a body and ribbing of your choice. Remember to build a head in front of the post and return the thread to directly underneath the post.
First make one wrap of thread around the base of the post, this is a crucial step and gets the thread going in a horizontal plane before you try to catch in the hackle.
Wind the hackle clockwise around the post, stepping lower and lower with each turn until you have reached the hook.
By winding clockwise you will find that the final whip finish torques the hackle even tighter on the post instead of making it loose.
Leave the hackle pliers hanging on your side of the fly, make one wrap of thread around the post to catch it, moisten the next few millimeters of tying thread with super glue and make two more wraps, hold the post and pull the thread firmly for a few seconds and then cut off the excess. Trim the point of the hackle and your fly is complete.
This very neat trick produces less bulk and a highly durable fly.
Improving the “Old Style”.
If you still want to finish the hackle on the hook shank you should wind the hackle around the post in an anti-clockwise direction. This way when you torque the final whip finish to trap the hackle you will at least pull it tighter instead of adding slack.
The finished fly will still have a whip finish at the eye and not under the hackle but it will at least be a good bit more durable.
Step by Step tying the BSP (Bog Standard Parachute)
The BSP is one of my standard “Guide Fly” patterns, quick, simple, durable and adaptable. It is the perfect way to illustrate the various techniques outlined in this book. This particular pattern is a standard thread body black parachute mayfly but one can adapt the techniques to suit almost any variation including dubbed, quill, biot or tinsel bodies, caddis flies and much more.
ONE:Tie on the thread to provide a base for the wing post, stop the thread some way back from the hook eye, I prefer my patterns to have something of a “head” as do real mayflies.
TWO: Double over a short section of wing post material around the hook shank (poly-yarn in this case),
THREE: Make several tight wraps of thread around the base to secure it to the hook and then wrap in touching turns up and back down the base of the post. It helps a lot if you do this by holding the post and pulling the thread tighter on each wrap whilst the post is supported, before releasing the thread tension slightly for the next wrap.
FOUR: Tie in the stripped butt of a suitable hackle stalk, I find that having enough bare stalk to make the first wrap when you wind the hackle will give a neater finish.
FIVE: Make another set of touching turns up and down the post to secure the hackle and stiffen the post base. You will find that it is easier to wind up and back as the additional wraps and the stalk all help to stabilize the post. Wrap almost, but not quite, to the top of the first set of wraps, this will again make wrapping the hackle easier when you get to that point.
SIX: Tie in suitable tail fibre materials, in this instance Coq Du Leon, you can if you choose use split tails, zylon, hackle fibres, micro fibbets or whatever.
SEVEN: Tie in the tails and make touching turns of thread back up the abdomen, trim the tail fibres close to the post. Again you can dub the body if you wish, or use biots, quills or whatever you wish. The BSP is a simple thread body fly but the technique is open to a lot of variation. Don’t forget to build a slight head with suitable dubbing, thread or whatever and then finish off VERY IMPORTANT, with the thread wrapped once horizontally around the base of the post.
EIGHT: Now tip the hook in the vice in preparation for winding the hackle, I find it much easier to wind the hackle with the hook at this angle, a lot less troublesome than trying to wind completely horizontal.
NINE: With the hackle wound downwards in touching turns around the post base you are ready to finish off the fly. Having the thread already wrapped around the base of the post (instead of around the hook shank) is essential if you are to make this easy and neat.
TEN: Touch a drop of super glue to the thread directly next to the hook shank, a few milimetres will do fine, you don’t need to have it dripping, just moisten the thread. Two quick wraps around the base of the post underneath the hackle and pull tight for a few seconds. This is amazingly durable and simple, even if the purists may dislike the idea. (For the record, I can whip finish here as an alternative but that is more bulky).
ALL FINISHED: Trim any hackle fibres caught up in the whip finish and there you are a BOP, Bog Standard Parachute, simple and durable as a battleship.
VARIATIONS:
The Tan BSP, a slim variation.
Who could venture forth without an Adams of some sort?
Two tone wings can be created with separate loops of different post materials.
Once you have mastered these techniques you can apply them to any parachute pattern you wish, I hope that it helps you tie better flies, catch more fish and enjoy the process.
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Keep an eye out for more E book innovation, there are some further more expansive titles in the works which if you found this of interest and value may very well provide more useful information. You may also enjoy following some of the entries on the Paracaddis Blog.
Thank you for reading.
Tim Rolston a.k.a Paracaddis..
About the Author: Tim Rolston has fished at the highest competitive levels representing South Africa in three World Fly Fishing Championship events and Captained the SA team at a Commonwealth Championship in Wales. He runs a fly fishing guiding business in Cape Town South Africa, writes prolifically for both entertainment and occasionally profit.
You can make direct contact via the website www.inkwaziflyfishingsafaris.co.za or read more on his blog