At one point I felt if I was going to use one Mayfly imitation it would be a Comparadun …now I think it would be a Paraschute.
What do you think? How do they compare?
As much as I love the parachute pattern at times, if I had to choose one or the other as the only fly I could have, it would be a comparadun. With the comparadun on the water, you can do a variety of things such as clipping off some of the hair to make the fly imitate different stages. It just gives me more tools in the fly box to use if I don?t have the proper stage. Basically I can get more out of one fly. But there is no true substitution for having the right fly/stage/size.
Eric.
[This message has been edited by eborden (edited 22 February 2005).]
I think if a person is smart they will not limit themselves on what they use and let the fish do the thinking as far as fly slection goes. You will find that you catch more fish doing it that way. Limiting ones options is a little like cutting your own throat. Dosen’t hurt a thing to carry a couple of each pattern. Ron
OK Ron, I know we’ve been down this limiting thing before…what if put it this way?..If all things were equal and you were fishing Comparaduns and Parachutes which do you think would catch the most fish?
The one the fish liked the most 
Because I would try them both. Ron
WOW, you’re hard to pindown! [G]
My experience has shown that the compardun works best over smart, wary fish. Your experience may differ.
Al
OK,which do you think the fish would like the most? Just your opinion of course.
Hey, some of you other folks chime in here as to what you think…I know I’m not going to get Ron to commit.
duckster,
I’m with Ron about why limit yourself, especially if you tie. However, here’s a question you can pin Ron down on and I’ll answer as well:
“You observe (pick mayfly) hatching and trout taking the duns off the surface: Which of those 2 styles would you put on first (say you have the same exact pattern in both styles): A)In flat water; B)In non-flat water?”
Now, I may switch to the other later, but my first choice would be to use:
A) comparadun
B) parachute
Allan
Nope you sure won’t because I let the fish tell me which fly they want the most. I carry a lot of different patterns just because I have found over the years that the fish can key on one pattern over all others. Or that you may take two to one with a pattern. That is also why there are so many different patterns that come out each year and work so well. If I am on a stream and the locals are using a lot of Compara-duns then the parachutes may work a lot better just because the fish have gotten use to the compara-Duns. Like I say let the fish tell you what they are taking that day… They may want a trailing shuck on that Parachute or compara-dun to 
Ron
I don’t really think it matters, now if you were to compare a quigley cripple and it’s abilities to a comparadun or parachute pattern you’ll find some differences, but in my experience a parachute will take any fish that a comparadun will with the exact same presentation. Maybe some people think trout like comparaduns more because they’re often tied thinner which more realisticly represents a mayfly? Assuming that the parachute fly is tied as thin as a comparadun I don’t think there’s a difference from the fishs’ point of view.
Ron,
C’mon! You have to put a fly at the end of your tippet. It’s mid-week. You happen to be driving along some backroad and alongside of a nice stream/river. You pass over a small bridge and see rises. No one is around and you decide to fish. You pull over to the side, set up(all but the fly) and walk to the river. You see a hatch in progress and trout are clearly rising to the duns. Let’s say you want to use a dry fly for the insect you see. You open your flybox and can match the hatch with a comparadun or a parachute. At the moment you have no desire to test another pattern, style, use an attractor, an ant, a beetle or other fly. You are going to use one of the aforementioned dry flies. Which style would you choose first if the water was smooth and which would you choose if the water was broken and fast moving?
C’mon Ron. You have to make that decision(-:
Allan
Allen- I would put a different fly on each of my clients and see which one worked the best. Then I would put that fly on eveyone that was fishing with me. Maybe myself to To tell the truth I might put on one of my own TCD Compara-Duns. If that didn’t do it I would try a Parachute or one with a trailing shuck. I came up with the TCD’s many years ago and use to tie them for the Becks when they owned there shop in PA along with there Catskill flies. Cathy was the one that named the flies TCD’s. That was do to the body material I use on them. Good Flies. But Not the only ones I might try? I guess I would just have to be there to know for sure. You are welcome to come along and see what I put on anytime Allen. Ron
Hi ducksterman,
If you have to stick to the correct recipe for both a Comparadun and a Parachute, there’s no comparison, the Parachute hands down will give you hundreds more hatch matching possibilities than a Comparadun ever will.
You can change the post on a parachute to any color and lots of different materials, both natural or synthetic and foam. Hackle can be any color. You can tie the feather for the parachute concave side up to have it sit lower or the other way to ride higher. You can tie the parachute hackle using a piece of mono seperately and attach it to the underside of the fly for it to really ride high. You can use shorter hackle or longer hackle for different effects too. You can tie the tail with just about any material and tie it split, full, spread out etc. and it’s still considered a parachute pattern. Bodies can be fat, thin, fuzzy, and any color too.
Camparaduns have to have a split tail made of micro fibbets or spade hackle, that’s it. The wing can be any color, but has to be some form of short hollow coarse hair from a deer/elk etc. If the wing is ANYTHING but a 180 degree arc on the top part of the fly, it may be mistaken for a Haystack or something else.
I fully agree with RonMT about limiting yourself and never would, but if there wasn’t any options, Parachutes.
Regards,
Mark