Thanks for the comments, it has been floating around the back of my mind for some years. Several years ago I was tying a Hawthorn fly from foam. The detached abdomen and thorax cover being made from one piece of foam. The hackle was wound over the hook shank and trimmed to and bottom before taking the foam over. Charles Jardine was watching and suggested that a parachute hackle wound around the foam for the thorax cover rather than the hook shank would make the pattern sit lower in the surface.

That got me thinking about using the same technique on Philip White's Bullet Head Resting Caddis. Just couldn't think of a way to tie it... Until now.

I'll post photos of those flies later (the day job starts in 1/2 hour, and I'm not getting involved in tying before 6am).

Cheers,
C.