Anyone tried the Parawulff?

[Bryon Anderson 0]

The Parawulff combines the standard parachute wing post with a Wulff-style divided hair wing.

 

 

This is probably the best "searching" dry fly pattern I've ever used. It has never failed to pull up a trout for me, and has saved me from the skunk more than once.

 

The problem is, that wing is a serious bitch to tie--at least for me. You have to use very fine thread (Charlie's Flybox suggests 16/0) to keep the wing base from getting too bulky, but you also have to tie on a pretty good size clump of calf body hair to get a decent looking wing. Naturally, this is a recipe for frustration.

 

Has anyone else on here besides me been masochistic enough to attempt this pattern? If so, any tips that might make building the "Y" wing easier would be much appreciated.

 

If anyone feels like giving it a go, here are the best instructions I've found, from Charliesflybox.com:

 

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=186

[McGnat 0]

Calf hair tail or body hair is a pain to tie. I'd be tempted to substitute turkey flats. A synthetic tied crosswise and then stood up might be workable also.

[kennebec12 0]

Try white poly-yarn for the wings, you can get a lot of body on the wings with less bulk on the hook. Haven't tried it with a parachute personally because I hate tying them but I've used it for other Wulff patterns and they fish pretty good.

[adrian191 0]

What is the tailing material? And how did you splay it out like that?

[mikechell 0]

 

This is probably the best "searching" dry fly pattern I've ever used. It has never failed to pull up a trout for me, and has saved me from the skunk more than once.

 

I truly am not trying to be irritating (although that seems to result more often than not).

But, if this fly is all that ... why fish with anything else? Whatever the hassle of tying, seems it would be worth it, since you wouldn't have to tie anything else for fishing.

I am truly curious, since I see claims like this from others and wonder.

 

It's like commercials that claim their product is better than the leading seller ... ??? If it's better, why isn't IT the leading seller?

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Thanks Kennebec12 and McGnat for the suggestion of using poly yarn for the wings. I tried using Hi-Vis, but didn't have great results, however I was already thoroughly frustrated by the time I tried it, so perhaps I should give it another go. It would be great if I could get it to work, as it is about a thousand times easier to work with than either calf tail or calf body hair.

 

Adrian191, I have to confess that I lifted that photo from the internet -- if I could tie a Parawulff that looked that good, I wouldn't be whining for help on here! To answer your question, though, you can use either hackle fibers or microfibbetts (which are just very fine nylon paint brush bristles) for the tails. I can't quite tell which they used in the pictured fly in my post, however, with either material, to split it I make a tiny "ball" of dubbing right at the bend of the hook before tying the tails in. Then I wrap back to where the butts of the wing material are tied down, tie in my tails there, and then lash them down along the shank between that point and my dubbing ball at the bend. When the thread pushes the fibers up against the dubbing ball, they will splay out some. To finish it off. I take the thread between the two bunches of fibers that I want to split and once around the hook shank to achieve the "V" look that you see in the picture.

There's a good description of this with pictures at Charliesflybox.com--just click the link in my post and it should take you right to it.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

 

 

This is probably the best "searching" dry fly pattern I've ever used. It has never failed to pull up a trout for me, and has saved me from the skunk more than once.

 

I truly am not trying to be irritating (although that seems to result more often than not).

But, if this fly is all that ... why fish with anything else? Whatever the hassle of tying, seems it would be worth it, since you wouldn't have to tie anything else for fishing.

I am truly curious, since I see claims like this from others and wonder.

 

It's like commercials that claim their product is better than the leading seller ... ??? If it's better, why isn't IT the leading seller?

 

That's a good question Mike, and not irritating at all. I can't speak for others, but the reason I don't fish with them more is primarily because of the original reason for my post--they're a pain in the ass to tie! If I can come up with a way to tie them that doesn't make me crazy, I probably will use them a lot more, because they really do work. I don't know if I'd use them exclusively--after all, I don't always fish dry flies, nor do I always fish for trout-- but they would probably become my go-to-first version of any dry fly I did use, as standard parachutes are now for all but a few patterns.

 

Another pattern that falls into the same category for me is the Humpy--I've had terrific luck with that fly, but I rarely tie them because, when I do, I rarely get them right.

 

Now you've got me thinking--everything I've said here can be boiled down to one rather unflattering statement: I'm kind of lazy.

Perhaps I'll devote next winter to perfecting those ties that I know to be good producers but just haven't taken the trouble to perfect..

[rockworm 0]

A Gel Spun Thread will allow you to compress the post material much more than a regular tying thread. Especially if you use poly yarn for the wings.

 

BTW- Lee Wulff experimented with a single post on his Wulff flies and was convinced they fished as well as the split wing. But his customers insisted on the split wing so that's how he tyed them.

[sbr 0]

Hi, How many turns of hackle do you use these type parachute flies? I was wondering the min turns I could get away with and still maintain good floatability. I am looking to get the lowest profile possible.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

sbr, I typically do 3-4 turns if there are two hackles (as in the Adams); 5-6 turns if it's a single hackle.

[mikechell 0]

 

 

 

This is probably the best "searching" dry fly pattern I've ever used. It has never failed to pull up a trout for me, and has saved me from the skunk more than once.

 

I truly am not trying to be irritating (although that seems to result more often than not).

But, if this fly is all that ... why fish with anything else? Whatever the hassle of tying, seems it would be worth it, since you wouldn't have to tie anything else for fishing.

I am truly curious, since I see claims like this from others and wonder.

 

It's like commercials that claim their product is better than the leading seller ... ??? If it's better, why isn't IT the leading seller?

 

That's a good question Mike, and not irritating at all. I can't speak for others, but the reason I don't fish with them more is primarily because of the original reason for my post--they're a pain in the ass to tie! If I can come up with a way to tie them that doesn't make me crazy, I probably will use them a lot more, because they really do work. I don't know if I'd use them exclusively--after all, I don't always fish dry flies, nor do I always fish for trout-- but they would probably become my go-to-first version of any dry fly I did use, as standard parachutes are now for all but a few patterns.

 

Another pattern that falls into the same category for me is the Humpy--I've had terrific luck with that fly, but I rarely tie them because, when I do, I rarely get them right.

 

Now you've got me thinking--everything I've said here can be boiled down to one rather unflattering statement: I'm kind of lazy.

Perhaps I'll devote next winter to perfecting those ties that I know to be good producers but just haven't taken the trouble to perfect..

 

LOL Excellent answer. Curiosity satisfied. As for being lazy ... it's what I aspire to ... I can't wait until I retire, so I can lazily fish every where I've ever wanted to fish.