Bill just asked for this pattern and I sent it to him via PM, but I thought that I might post it for everybody else as well.


Parachute Patriot

Hook: standard or barbless dry fly. Commonly tyed in sizes 12 - 18 for trout.
Thread: red (I prefer silk because it is translucent in the water and easy to tie with)
Post: white Hi-Viz
Tail: brown hackle fibers
Body: several alternating bands of thread and smolt blue (#40?) Krystal Flash
Hackle: brown, tyed parachute style

The Parachute Patriot is a bright-colored fly. Hence it follows the rule, bright day, bright fly. Obviously it is an attractor pattern. It seems to have all but replaced the Royal Coachman as the bright, attractor of choice on the Au Sable.

It is an easy enough fly to tie. I also tie it in size 10 for bluegill so as to make it a bit harder for them to swallow the whole thing. Good luck with it! Once you start using Krystal Flash as a body material, it is as slippery as slope as snowshoe hare's foot for tying. Variations just beg for a shot at the vise.

I think that variations, such using grizzly hackle, bear experimentaion. Hmmmm... Now I can't help but wonder how an orange thread and root beer Krystal Flash body with orange-dyed grizzly or ginger hackle would work for a cinnamon sedge. It's a terrible vice, fly-tying...


regards,
Ed