Choosing hackle size for parachute

[SilverCreek 0]

I also tie the hackle shiny-side out and wrap from top down, double half-hitching at the base of the wing post instead of tying off at the eye.

 

Regards,

Scott

 

 

Does "hackle shiny-side out" mean the shiny or convex side of the hackle faces up? This would make the hackle curve down and support the fly higher in the film.

 

I purposely tie the opposite way with the convex or shiny side facing down. The reason is that I want the body of a parachute fly to sink DEEPER into the surface film. When tied in convex side down, the hackle curves AWAY from the surface film and the fly is supported lower in the water.

 

The deeper the body is, the more it looks like an earlier stage of an emerger, and earlier stages are more vulnerable. Does it make a difference? I don't know, but it may to some fish.

[flytire 0]

[SBPatt 0]

 

I also tie the hackle shiny-side out and wrap from top down, double half-hitching at the base of the wing post instead of tying off at the eye.

Regards,

Scott

 

 

Does "hackle shiny-side out" mean the shiny or convex side of the hackle faces up? This would make the hackle curve down and support the fly higher in the film.

 

I

 

I also tie the hackle shiny-side out and wrap from top down, double half-hitching at the base of the wing post instead of tying off at the eye.

Regards,

Scott

 

 

Does "hackle shiny-side out" mean the shiny or convex side of the hackle faces up? This would make the hackle curve down and support the fly higher in the film.

 

I purposely tie the opposite way with the convex or shiny side facing down. The reason is that I want the body of a parachute fly to sink DEEPER into the surface film. When tied in convex side down, the hackle curves AWAY from the surface film and the fly is supported lower in the water.

 

The deeper the body is, the more it looks like an earlier stage of an emerger, and earlier stages are more vulnerable. Does it make a difference? I don't know, but it may to some fish.

I think we're in agreement here. I should have said shiny side out when tying the hackle to the post; when wrapping the hackle, the convex side faces down and like you said, whatever curvature there is in the hackle fibers is up and away, letting the fly sit lower on the water. I've heard that aerodynamically, tied that way, the fly tended to land hook down more often; not sure if that's true or not but the flies ride on the water the way I like them to and fish eat them.

 

Regards,

Scott

[SilverCreek 0]

 

I think we're in agreement here. I should have said shiny side out when tying the hackle to the post; when wrapping the hackle, the convex side faces down and like you said, whatever curvature there is in the hackle fibers is up and away, letting the fly sit lower on the water. I've heard that aerodynamically, tied that way, the fly tended to land hook down more often; not sure if that's true or not but the flies ride on the water the way I like them to and fish eat them.

 

Regards,

Scott

 

 

I haven't found any difference in how the fly lands whether the hackle is wrapped shiny side up or down. I use hackle that is 1 size larger as most do. The difference for me is the lower body position as I said in my earlier post. An additional advantage is that with the hackle fibers curving up and away from the bottom of the post, it is is easier to get under those fibers to tied off the hackle on the post as you do.

 

If you look at your parachutes, the fact that you tied them off on the bottom of the post will position the hackle higher on the post than if you wrapped all the way down and tied off behind the hook eye. Tying off on the post will make the fly sit lower in the water. So how you tie off the hackle affects how low the fly sits. Mine sit lower since I whip finish the hackle to the post.

[chugbug27 0]

I notice a clear difference when trout are taking dries v taking parachutes, but I've tied mine the other way because I feel I'll get a longer float time if the concave side is down. Now I'll have to try it convex down and see what happens...

 

On similar note, I also find in the evenings a parachute will often get surface feeding trout when a standard dry won't. I've always assumed the parachutes there are imitating fallen spinners. Does that make sense?

[mikechell 0]

All this talk of parachutes, I'm starting to have flashbacks!

[SilverCreek 0]

I notice a clear difference when trout are taking dries v taking parachutes, but I've tied mine the other way because I feel I'll get a longer float time if the concave side is down. Now I'll have to try it convex down and see what happens...

 

On similar note, I also find in the evenings a parachute will often get surface feeding trout when a standard dry won't. I've always assumed the parachutes there are imitating fallen spinners. Does that make sense?

 

 

Absolutely. I cut off the post on parachutes to convert the parachutes to spinner. You can also bend the hook to convert the parachute to a Klinkhammer type of suspender pattern.

 

[Lucian.Vasies 0]

for me one size up hackle and short para axe. A longer axe will often make the fly to fall on a side...

[flytire 0]

[rstaight 0]

I usually don't pay attention to the shiny side being up or down. I believe the fish don't care either. Shiny side up or down, either way the fly is imitating an emerger struggling to get through the surface film.

 

As I have read in the past here, we fly fishers have a way of over complicating things.

[SilverCreek 0]

I usually don't pay attention to the shiny side being up or down. I believe the fish don't care either. Shiny side up or down, either way the fly is imitating an emerger struggling to get through the surface film.

 

As I have read in the past here, we fly fishers have a way of over complicating things.

 

I'm not sure if you mean by "you don't care whether the hackle is shiny side up or down" that you don't try to be consistent in how the hackle faces when wrapped. If so, then I disagree.

 

The reason to care is to create consistent looking flies. Maybe you don't think it matters whether the hackle is shiny side up or down, but it will matter as to how the flies look. I want to tie each fly to look the same. I want to use the same amount of material for the post, for example. It may not matter to the trout if there is a bit more or less material on the post or if the post of one fly is cut a bit shorter and another a bit longer. But it matters to me and I think it is a trait that we look for in the flies we buy and for me, in the flies I tie.

 

It takes no more time to post the hackle so it wraps shiny side up or down, so why not be consistent? It shows that I care about how my flies look as well as how they fish.

 

That may not be for everyone, but it is important to me and really has nothing to do with "over complicating things". In my opinion, they are separate issues. For example, I think the tapering of dubbing on a dry fly should be the same from fly to fly. How much tapering is can be up for discussion. But once you decide how the body should taper, I think the tier should try to be consistent and make each fly identical to the last.

 

One quality I look for in fly tiers and strive for in my tying is consistency from fly to fly.

[Baron 0]

You folks are freaking amazing.You're way above me yet, in these pages, you're reaching down to pull me up. I won't forget it...Going off to practice now.

[SilverCreek 0]

Here is a graphic of the emergence sequence. I think I it is from Dave Whitlock and show how the subaquatic nymph emerges into an adult mayfly and the patterns that imitate those stages.