Parachute Adams

Dry fly imitating mayflies, for trout. Intermediate.

Mixed brown and grizzly tail, Adams grey body, a white calf-hair post and a parachute hackle of brown and grizzly.

Materials

Steps

  1. Attach thread Attach the thread at 80% of the way along the shank with a few turns and trim the tag end.
  2. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to the start of the bend in touching turns.
  3. Tie in: grizzly cock hackle fibres Tie in the grizzly cock hackle fibres, leaving twice the gape sticking out behind. The tail is one shank long.
  4. Tie in: brown cock hackle fibres Tie in the brown cock hackle fibres, leaving twice the gape sticking out behind.
  5. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 80% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  6. Tie in: calf tail Tie in a bunch of calf tail upright, 1.2× the gape tall, with turns in front to stand it up. Stack the hair, tie it in tips forward, stand it up and make a few turns round its base.
  7. Tie in: brown cock hackle Tie in the brown cock hackle with a few firm thread turns. Stems stripped and bound up the side of the post.
  8. Tie in: grizzly cock hackle Tie in the grizzly cock hackle with a few firm thread turns.
  9. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to the start of the bend in touching turns.
  10. Dub: adams grey dubbing Twist a thin noodle of adams grey dubbing onto the thread and wrap it forward to 78% of the way along the shank. Up to the post, with a slight taper.
  11. Wind: brown cock hackle Wind the brown cock hackle round the base of the calf tail in 3 turns, each one under the last. Start at the top and wind down, each turn under the last.
  12. Tie off: brown cock hackle Tie off the brown cock hackle with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  13. Wind: grizzly cock hackle Wind the grizzly cock hackle round the base of the calf tail in 3 turns, each one under the last.
  14. Tie off: grizzly cock hackle Tie off the grizzly cock hackle with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  15. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread. Whip finish behind the eye, under the hackle.

History

The Adams (Leonard Halladay, Michigan, 1922) tied with a parachute hackle round a wing post. Rusty Dunn dates the popularity of parachute Adams to the 1950s; none of the sources names who tied the first one.

Fishing it

An everyday searching dry with the outline of an adult mayfly. The hackle wound round the post helps it float, and the white post is easy to follow in rough water. Fish it on a dead drift; Charlie Craven fishes it in sizes 14 and 16 through the summer.

Sources