Did anyone notice the article in Flyfishing & Tying Journal, (the magazine
Preston writes for) by Jim Schollmeyer on "Puffy" post flies? This is the
pattern, with a slight variation to the parachute style, that I described in
an earlier post. It is one of my best producers. I tie in the post, the
same way as Jim described, only I substitute floating yarn for the post
rather than "butt of the duck" feathers. I also press my post down and
flare it out more and you are able to do that with floating yarn. What it
does, is allow you to "over hackle" your parachutes enabling you to add more
floatation in turbulent water. When you spread out the post and add the
drop of superglue in the center it creates several features of benefit. 1.
durability..your hackle will not come off. 2. the over hackle is blended
in with the wing syllouette and appears as wing venation as well as legs.
We can fish these in a size #14, or #12 as searching patterns as we float
down river casting them into seam water and riffly spots that would drown a
lightly dressed parachute as is usually tied. I highly recommend Preston's
magazine. There are some great articles and patterns by good fly anglers
that are pertinent to our area as well as areas we would like to go. That
pattern has been my #1 producer this summer. Jere
