Bodkin / Patterns

Parachute Damsel

Dry Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook standard dry fly, 1XL, 10-12
  • Thread blue 8/0

Materials

  • Dry fly hackle Grizzly hackle (1 feather)
  • Poly yarn (post) White poly yarn (small clump)
  • Foam or dubbed extended body Blue ice dub (1 strip / pinch)
  • Krystal Flash (wing) Pearl flashabou (few strands)

How to tie it

  1. Start thread mid-shank and build a short base.
  2. Form the extended body: either taper-dub a slim blue abdomen on a needle and bind it in, or fold a thin blue foam strip and lash it so it projects a full shank length past the bend. Damsels are needle-thin, so keep it slender.
  3. Stand a white post at the 60% mark with criss-cross turns and a front thread dam.
  4. Tie a few strands of pearl Krystal Flash across the shank at the post to suggest the spent, flat wings.
  5. Dub a slim blue thorax fore and aft of the post.
  6. Tie in the grizzly hackle at the post, wind 4-5 turns down the post, and secure.
  7. Sweep the fibers up, whip finish at the eye, and cement the post base and whip finish.

Tying videos

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