Tying parachutes

[Dave Minyard 0]

I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a good detailed video for tying parachutes? I haven't tied any in a long time and am looking for a good reference so that I don't get into any bad habits.

 

Thanks in advance.

[SilverCreek 0]

SBS for tying the post and parachute hackle from Haryy Mason's Troutflies.com from the Web Archive. Click on the steps for the SBS:

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20101218025042/http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/parachute/01.shtml

 

Charlie's Fly Shop:

 

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=131

 

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/print.cfm?parentID=32

 

[imx 0]

as posted above, I started tying mine like Charlie Craven and have never looked back

[Dave Minyard 0]

Thank you very much! That was very enlightening and just what I was looking for.

[Dave G. 0]

The only difference in my own tying of parachutes from Charlie is I still put some material down the hook back and one stand of the wing. That helps form the body taper in my case. I haven't done the splayed wing set in years now, the fish don't know the difference. However you do have to be careful that the wing and post don't lean forward. Maybe I will try his way next time. Great video !

[SilverCreek 0]

The post can be looped UNDER the hook so it cannot be pulled out.

[Bruce Norikane 0]

SBS for tying the post and parachute hackle from Haryy Mason's Troutflies.com from the Web Archive. Click on the steps for the SBS:

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20101218025042/http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/parachute/01.shtml

 

...

 

Wow, Silver. Harry Mason's Troutflies, the best of the early web.

 

Harry really raised the bar and showed the world how to leverage the web's strengths with a finely photographed and detailed step-by-step tutorial.

[SilverCreek 0]

Harry was a class act and wonderful fly tyer. I knew Harry from the 1980s from the early mailing list Flyfish@.

 

Too bad his web site was taken down after he passed. I have all of his SBSs saved and some of them are on FAOL. One of his best SBS on the Copper John is on FAOL, well before the one on Charlies Fly Box that is a clone of his original SBS. It was on the Copper John SBS that I first saw the method Harry used to form the legs by cutting out a slot in the partridge feather.

 

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/020204fotw.php

 

Most of his SBSs can be downloaded on the Web Archive

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20130220225104/http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/index.shtml

[Crackaig 0]

Here's how I go about it. You could copy the method or just take some pointers from it.

https://youtu.be/SZEdbN099io

Cheers,

C.

[flytire 0]

i tie the post using the same method shown in crackaigs video

 

learned many years ago from a magazine article on tying the "gulper special"

[Crackaig 0]

You can tie it that way, or leave it top of the hook shank; I doubt leaving it on top is very secure. Or you can tie along the hook shank and post the end up in a reveres "L". If you are trying to achieve a slim body this method works against you. None are right or wrong, and each is only better depending on the situation you are using it in. The knack is choosing which to us in which situation.

 

As I demonstrate fly tying I am always prepared to answer, "Why do you do that?" You may not be demonstrating but it is good tactic to know why you do anything,

 

Cheers,

C.

[vicrider 0]

Like Crackaig says, there's many ways to do things. I don't know where I first saw the way I use to tie parachutes but it was on a video like most of us pick up our habits from. I tie the post on just like any of those vids, put a dab of superglue at base, then go back and do my tail and dubbing or quill or whatever body it's going to get. I take the body all the way to the front of the hook and tie it down and clip thread. THEN...I turn the hook so it is almost but not quite pointed straight down. I start the thread around the post and take it up and down once. I take my hackle or hackles (Adams) and hold them in place with my thumb and wind the stems up the post and back down. As a right hander I pull the bobbin to my left and loop it over something out of the way. Wind the hackle down the amount of turns you want, hold the hackle ends slightly down and take the bobbin and wind around the stem and hackle ends just like C.'s video except we're facing down and winding instead of trying to work unnaturally around the top. I tie it off with a whip finish like C. except I use the tool. I put a dab of SA on loop just as I pull it tight, trim thread and hackle and neaten up any mess like in vid.

 

I just find the trick of turning the whole fly down when doing the actually hackling of the parachute much simpler for me. YMMV

[Crackaig 0]

Vic, There are two. reasons I don't move the fly but turn my hand: One it is quicker, (Not a consideration for most), and two, to wind up Oliver Edwards!

 

Cheers,

C.

[Dave G. 0]

I think ( long time ago now) that the first parachute I tied used Mono filament for the post and I read it in a magazine article. It's too long ago now to remember the details of wings but I want to say they were a pair of feathers. The mono post was heated with fire , it was tied on top of the hook shank and bent up, just touch it with a flame to hold the bend. Real vague I know but it's the best I recall. I do know that the hackle I used was Grizzly because I recall grizzly going around this post. It was pre internet videos or at least I had no access if they were available. I think a hot home computer was something like a 200 meg machine back then !!

[Dave Minyard 0]

It took me a while, but here's a photo of the best one yet. I really like the Charlie Craven method, it works well for me.