January 2, 2002

Parachute dry flies have always been great, trout catching flies. In their early days, they were tied primarily with white calftail. This made for a durable fly, but the use of calftailmade it impossible to tie these flies in small sizes. Also, take my word for it, calftail is awkward and time consuming to use.The substitution of poly yarn for calftail made it possible to tie from size 12 all the way to size 22. I believe poly yarn is the way to go for nearly all parachute dries.

What we're going to do in this little essay is show you how to set up a poly yarn wing post. We won't tie the whole fly with you because once the post is set up, the rest is easy. Ok, let's get ready!

MATERIALS

Vise

cutting tool or scissors

any size hook that is comfortable for you to train with

thread-at least 6/0

any size and color poly yarn

Step 1: Put Down a Thread Base

Cover the middle half of the hook shank with thread. This is very important. Without a good thread base, he wing post will tend to roll around the shank. After you have done this, lacquer the hook shank.

Step 2: Cut a piece of poly yarn.

Length hardly matters at this point, so just cut a length that you can handle easily. Thickness, however, is important. I lean toward a slender wing. For sizes 12 and 14, I use two strands of poly. For sizes 16 and 18, I use one strand of poly. Sizes 20 and 22, 3/4 of a strand will do.

Remember, if you use a thicker piece of poly, the body of the fly will be thicker and the fly will be less durable.It's harder to bind that thicker poly to the hook shank.

Step 3: Now we're ready to tie the yarn down to the hook.

Place the yarn so that one end of it is about 1/3 the length of the shank away from the bend of the hook. Start making secure thread wraps from there until the thread is about 1/3 the shank length from the eye.

Take enough thread wraps so that the wing post is secure. You have bound the yarn to the middle third of the shank

Step 4: Make the yarn perpendicular to the shank.

This is the tough part of our lesson. Getting the hang of this will take some practice, but it is important to do this well. Without a solid wrapping of thread, you won't be able to wind hackle around the wing. We'll give directions for a right handed tyer.

Pull the post up with the left thumb and forefinger. While holding the post, start to wind some thread in front of the upright yarn. This will force the yarn upright. Start winding the thread around the base of the wing. You need to wind thread until the wing is solid enough for hackle winding. If the wing won't bend over with light finger pressure, it's solid enough.

Now check the photos for the trick. To wind thread around the yarn, let go of the thread, wind until the thread is on the opposite side of the wing, then grab the top of the wing again and wind on the near side of the wing. Repeat this procedure until the base of the wing is covered with thread.

Step 5: Believe it or not, this is 75% of tying a poly parachute. From here, dub fur onto the thread, tie in the tail, wind the body, tie in and wind the hackle. Finally, knot the head, lacquer and there you are!