Thanks for the replies so far. Yes, I know that if I was fishing on my desk my dry flies would sit nicely on the hackle and tail tips only - it's the pesky water/waves that messes it all up!

I've tied parachutes in the past and have a few versions although I do admit I don't fish them much. Maybe it's because when I first got into tying I just really liked the look of the more traditional catskill style flies that I've stayed with them. I dabbled with tying compardun patterns too but I just never seem to think about fishing them. Actually when the butt-end of my dry sinks below the water I guess I'm almost fishing a Klinkhammer!!

Maybe I need to add a 2nd question here - if I should flare my tails are we talking 2 distinct tails going off at an angle to each other (via a thread bump or pulling the thread tag end between the tailing) or do you try to get the tailing fibers to shoot off in some sort of horizontal fan-wing pattern? I'm curious how people flare out their tails on their dries.