wing? Is the fly less effective without the additional color and second wing?
Do you mean for the hackle? I do sometimes, especially on larger (#12 and up) flies, but just as often only use grizzly hackle and the fish don’t mind. I guess technically, it’s not an Adams at that point; up to others to decide if that’s important, I don’t care.
Regards,
Scott
You can use just one cree feather and get the same results form a brown and grizzly rabbed together.
Ghost.
On parachute adams i do not use the brown. I only use a grizzly. I like it more because i think it looks more like a mosquito and i fish over mosquitos all the time
Hi Deepcreek,
My answer to your question is a highly definitive “Yes” and “No.” If someone were paying me to tie a Parachute Adams, I would feel obligated to tie those flies by the book, i.e. with brown and grizzly hackle. If I’m tying the flies for personal use or if I may give them to a friend, the hackle is purely my choice—all brown, all grizzly, mixed brown and grizzly or sky blue pink for that matter. I think that far too many fly tyers spend way too much time worrying about using exactly the right, by-the-book material and 99% of the time the fish could care less. Get the size and right and you will catch fish most of the time. 8T 
Many liberties are taken in fly tying. If you’re tying flies for personal use, there are no (okay…maybe a few) rules.
That said, you probably won’t find many fly shops selling para Adams without mixed grizz/brown hackle. The dressing specifies both hackle colors, and I don’t think it would be reasonable for a fly lacking one of the hackle colors to be commercially sold as a para Adams. I say this even though a variety of wing materials (calf, poly, Z-lon, etc) still seem to be accepted commercially.
Tie a para Adams with only grizzly, another with only brown, and a third with both hackle colors. There will be a slight difference in appearance: lighter-, darker- and medium-toned, respectively. But the para Adams is still a general pattern and not imitative of any particular hatch. Unless your fishing over trout that are especially fond of a traditionally-tied para Adams, there’s nothing to entirely rule out the potential of your single-color version; in some instances, it could more effective than the traditional tie. I think the errors many of us make in fly size, insect stage or presentation will often be more detrimental than a fly with “slightly off” hackle color.
1 grizzly varaiant should do the trick.
Tie it how ever you want, if you don’t use both colors, don’t call it an Adams. I often refer to many of the patterns that I tie as “Adams inspired” patterns or whatever you used as an inspiration to try your particular pattern. Have fun.
Rick
I tie mine with grizzly only (occasionally hitting a few of them with a brown prismacolor). I tie em without the brown feather, fish em without the brown feather, catch lots of fish on em, call em adams…and I’ve never once been stopped & cited on the stream by the pedantic police. 
I think that Eight Thumbs has a very important point here. So many tiers think that they must follow a fly recipe to the last detail or else the fly is useless. This is getting rediculous with the proliferation of similar, look-alike, materials these days. I know of one good tier who is into this to the point of breaking the family bank just to keep pace. If variations in materials makes a difference that is good, but beyond that it gets rediculous.
So many tiers think that they must follow a fly recipe to the last detail or else the fly is useless.
I wonder what number of those many tyers will respond to this thread.
Hi All,
I am with Ray, Eight Thumbs and some of the others. My guess is that 90% of the time you won’t see any difference in the fish catching ability of the fly if you leave out one color or the other. The rest of the time one of the two single hackle types may work better, or just as likely not work as well.
I think we get too carried away with meticulously tying a pattern exactly as the pattern calls. I do not think that small details make huge differences to the fish. I think that they have a much bigger impact of fly fishermen when they are in a fly shop buying flies than they do on the fish out in the stream.
Regards,
Gandolf
I don’t think the fish care. heck, I tie my regular “adams-inspireds” (can we call them A-I flies?) with just grizzley most of the time. two hackles is too time consuming and cree is too expensive/hard to find.
I only use one grizzly on my para adams, the fish cant tell the difference from what I can tell.
An Adams calls for both brown and grizzly hackle. If you don’t use both, it ain’t an Adams.
No brown, and you’re tying a Grizzly fly. Use calf tail wings, you’ve got the Grizzly Riffle Fly.
Is the Grizzly as good as an Adams? Probably.
Put a hair tail and calf tail wings and it is an Adams Wulff…etc. etc. etc.
I still call them Adams, as that is easier to say, remember, and explain. Until the fish markets on the west coast stop selling Red Snapper and Golden Trout (neither of which are the correct usage) call it what you want…just don’t expect everyone to unnerstand.
didnt AK Best write an article a few years back on the 4095 variations of the ADAMS?? :D:D
i like an adams tied with a tail of moose body hair
By that rationale, the fly commonly sold as an adams isnt an adams, since the original used, iirc, a pair of GP tippet fibers as a tail.
I normally opt not to negotiate with pedants, and happily refer to my flies of this type as Adams despite what any of them tell me. If feathers are ruffled, so much the better. 
And that should be that. Amen Brother Cold
OOh, you guys are making this fly tying sooo much better and a lot less expensive.