The fly box · No. 02 of 36
Parachute Adams
A mayfly dun sitting low in the surface, or one still struggling out of its shuck.
- Kind
- Dry
- Hook sizes
- 12–20
- Season
- Spring, summer, autumn
- For
- Trout and grayling
- At the vice
- A moderate tie
The dressing
| Hook | Standard dry fly, barbless or barb flattened, sizes 12–20 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Grey, 8/0 (70 denier) |
| Tail | Mixed brown and grizzly cock hackle fibres |
| Body | Muskrat underfur or fine grey dubbing, slim, continued in front of the post |
| Rib | None |
| Hackle | Brown and grizzly cock, wound together parachute-style around the post |
| Wing | Single upright post of white calf body hair or white poly yarn |
| Also | A drop of thin varnish at the base of the post to lock the hackle turns |
Tying it
- Run the thread to the bend and tie in the mixed tail fibres.
- Tie in the post a third of the shank back from the eye, stand it up and wrap a short thread column around its base.
- Tie in both hackles against the base of the post, shiny sides up.
- Dub a slim body from the tail to the post, then a little in front of it for a thorax.
- Wind the hackles together down the post, each turn under the last, three or four turns in all.
- Tie off behind the eye, lift the fibres clear, whip finish and trim the post to about shank length.
Fishing it
This is the version for smooth water and careful fish. Because it sits flush, trout that have turned away from high-riding dries will often take it calmly. Fish it dead drift on 5X (0.15 mm), or 6X (0.13 mm) in sizes 18 and 20, with a slack-line cast so the tippet lands in loose curves. It also makes a dependable indicator: hang a small nymph forty centimetres below on a length of finer tippet and watch the post.
Where it comes from
Parachute hackling, with the hackle wound flat around an upright post, dates from the 1930s. Nobody can say for certain who first dressed the Adams that way, but the marriage stuck. The body rests in the film instead of perching above it, the fly always lands the right way up, and the white post gives the angler something to follow.