When it comes to tieing drys why do i keep going to tieing comparaduns…They float well in the water and catch a lot of fish…can you think of a better pattern to fish…lets hear your feed back and tell why yours works the best…
Ronnie,
For mayflies, I use comparaduns and parachutes for the slower water, and Harrop-style Hairwing duns for faster moving water, including pocket water.
There is only one improvement to the Comparadun that makes it even better than the original - adding a shuck to make a ‘Sparkle Dun’.
Kelly.
I like parachutes… the smaller the better:D
I used to think comparaduns…now I think parachutes
If anyone has trouble tying them with the traditional hairwing, try using Hi-vis or synthetics for the wing, I switched to dun colored Hi-vis for the wing and the fish don’t seem to mind and its easier to tye, just tye it in like hair and then trim it to the desired height.
Rodney
How is flotation using synthetics? I use synthetics for all parachute posts, but the hackle provides the flotation on those. Not being hollow, I’d think the synthetics would lead to flies sinking or at least not positive buoyancy.
Cutts, I haven’t noticed any floatation problems with the Hi-vis, I have also used Polypro for the wing with no problems. You do have to make some false casts every now and then to dry the wing but other than that they float just as long as the ones made with hair.
Rodney
CDC works well for the wings as well. I often will use a few loose CDC fibers for the shuck/tail on my small sparkle duns as well instead of Z-lon. For me it’s a landslide. A Sparkle Dun is hands down my go to mayfly imitation.
I like parachutes and have probably caught more trout on them than any other dry fly.
However, I personally like the “romantic” looks of a comparadun, specifically a hair wing comparadun. To me, there’s not much of a better-looking dry fly than a well-proportioned deer hair winged comparadun!
Do you have a picture of one?
I fish A LOT of comparadun patterns. But I tie nearly all of mine in the Haystack style. Much more productive for me.
Polypro’s specific gravity is 0.86-0.92, which is less than water so it will float. Since the parachute post is ABOVE the water as you have pointed out, it does not actually “float” the fly. However, even if post material is heavier than water, if it can give the appearance of a wing using less mass than material that may have less density, it will allow the fly to float higher.
What is actually more important is whether you even want a high floating fly. If the natural fly places it’s abdomen into the film, you want the fly to stick it’s abdomen into the film.
Gary Borger is coming our with a new book called Fishing The Film, and I’ve read through the manuscript and helped with some minor editing. Jason is the editor. I recommend it to everyone who wants to know how to fish above, in, and just under the film. The section on casts and mending is the best that I have read. He also goes into some principles of fly design and how the process of emergence occurs, splitting it into 5 stages with patterns for each stage. He explains the importance of getting the imitation and presentaion correct, breaking some long held mis-conceptions by earlier authors.
Silver, do you happen to know what the specific gravity is for Hi-vis. I’m not a good one for the specifics on those kinds of things. I have been under the impression that polypro and those types of synthetics are made to be water repellent to a certain extent and would float pretty well. I have also noticed that there are a few spinner patterns that use synthetics for the wings and they seem to float pretty good for a while. I also prefer my flies to float a little lower in the film as compared to a high riding fly.
Garb, I’ll post a pic as soon as my camera battery charges.
Here is a front and rear pic of the fly with Hi-vis wing, I used white with this one instead of the dun. I tied it a little big for a sulphur, but you can see it a little better in the pic using a bigger hook. This is a size #14.
I don’t know the specific gravity for Hi-vis.
In regards to spinner wings, I use twinkle organza, which is an organza fabric you can buy at fabrics stores. It is light reflective and makes great spinner wings fro smaller flies, but you do need to use some thin flexible head cement at the base of the wings to keep the filaments apart and in shape.
I think your flies show that even if material is heavier than water, the fact that they give the impression of a wing using less material than deer hair makes for an overall lighter wing and therefore less mass to float on the meniscus. Hollow deer hair does nothing to “float” a fly if it is above the water surface. Very nice flies.
MidgeMadness, that is quite a lovely fly. Thanks for posting it.
I am also a fan of Hi-Vis. Since I’m a heathen I don’t mind offending against tradition in the interests of functionality. I loop the Hi-Vis under the hook shank and double it to make a post for parachute flies. When tyed on barbless hooks, I can unhook my flies by grabbing the post and giving a flick. The fish doesn’t even have to come out of the water. Pity I can’t do that to release trees that I hook 15’ over my head…
Ed
Great tip Ed. I tie my synthetice posts in the same way. It is an absolutely foolproof way of making sure the post can’t be pulled out of the fly. No need for head cement to reinforce the post when this method is used.
Thanks Ed, I also make my parachute wings by looping the material under the hook shank and doubling it on top of the shank.
Rodney
I’ll be honest. Comparaduns do nothing for me