I am having a very hard time tying in the end of the hackle after wrapping it around the post and then to whip finish it, i keep tying down fibers 
I know there is a trick to this, thanks guys, Garb
I wrap the hackles (dull side up) down the post, take a couple wraps of thread around the hackle at the base of the post, then double half-hitch at the head. I prefer that to trapping the hackle at the head, for exactly the reasons you’re mentioning.
Regards,
Scott
Check this out, great stuff!
thanks for the advise Scott… and that video is nuts!
OK i think i have it just made a few and the dont look like they got runover by a train! Now… what do you use for a post? i have been using buck tail (all i have) and i cant get it to flair very well.
I use Congo Hair (a synthetic like EP fibers). Lots of other material you can use - calf body, turkey t-base, poly yarn; you could also make a post out of foam (not too aesthetically pleasing, but effective). I’m impressed you can tie one with bucktail!
Regards,
Scott
What would be thr easiest to work with and what color do you like best?
I like the synthetics - easy to work with, don’t create a lot of bulk at the tie-in point, wide range of colors. Most of the time, I use white, but for low-light conditions, I’ve tied some with fluorescent colors (chartreuse, orange or pink) or black.
Regards,
Scott
Watching that video…reminds me I’m not suited for production fly-tying. I haven’t tied a parachute pattern for a couple years…but that’s no excuse. That guy was FAST AND GOOD!
He made it look so easy, I want to give it a shot!
Charlie is crazy good, runs a fantastic fly shop (his tutorials are some of the best available - http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/index.cfm ), did all of the tying for Barr Flies and put out his own outstanding book Basic Fly Tying.
I’ve been tying my parachute flies like the one in the video for years. See how easy it is when you combine steps and wrap around the post? Also, attaching the post is much simpler and less bulky when using this method. Good luck. Practice.
Kelly.
I just tied about a half dozen like he did and they look 100% better, thanks for the help guys, oh and i used some antron yarn (cream tho) to get the feel for it and i like it allot.
I hacked my way through a couple fly ties last night. Don’t know if I did it exactly right…but it was pretty quick and easy (probably only took me 3 or 4 x longer than in the video. LOL), and I think they turned out pretty good! I’ll have to wait and see if they float ok, but fish will probably jump all over these.
I couldn’t find my antron yarn, so I used some white Congo Hair.
Craven is indeed a fantastic tyer, but that is really not a Adams Parachute fly. An Adams would have both grizzly and brown hackle.
I tie alot of parachute patterns also and tie off the hackle on the post, but prefer to whip finish the fly at the hook eye. It is easy to trap hackle barbs in the whip finish, and a friend showed me a neat trick to end that problem. Slide a small section of a drinking straw onto your bobbin stem before starting to tie. When you’re ready to finish the fly, slide the small section of straw up the thread and over the hackle and post. The straw will hold the hackle and post back out of your way, leaving a clean, exposed hook eye to whip finish on to.
One trick that helps is to wind the hackle clockwise; you catch far fewer fibers that way when tying off.
Try tying off the hackle by wrapping around the post instead of around the hook eye. It may sound terrible but you can actually use a whip finishing tool around the post, under the hackle an avoid trapping hackle fibers. You’ll just sweep them out of your way as you go.
I agree with Ray on tying off on the post. I also use them shiney side up as I want the barbs curving down toward the water.
A cree is a perfect sub for a grizzly and brown combo and my monitor shows enough brown to make me think it was a cree.
When I tied commercially I hit winged Adams at 90 seconds in runs of a dozen. Hackles were not as good then and I think with practice I could better the 90 seconds in runs. I would prep materials for a dozen at a time and found it faster for me then doing bigger sets. I think I liked the timing of it and tried to maintain 3 dozen per hour for the whole time slot. I do not miss those days…
art
I got to watch Charlie tie a Parachute Adams up close and personal at the fly tying expo on the 6th here in Denver. He tied the two hackles in together and wrapped them as one. When it came time to do the head and whip, he simply used his fingers to hold everything out of the way and did what he needed to.
What I found really interesting was that he put some head cement on the post after everything was tied. He used some really thin stuff, didn’t catch what, turned the fly on it’s side, and touched the drop of head cement on one of the hackle tips and let it get sucked into the post.
I like to use foam for my posts. Might try some antron the way he did it in that video
Looked to me like he used a Cree hackle, which is an acceptable substitute for brown and grizzly. Tying two hackles on a parachute pattern would be a nightmare, and would tend to make the fly topheavy. The only thing I didn’t like was that the hackle appears too small. I like the hackle one size larger than hook size, as it makes the flymuch more stable on the water. I use the same method to tie parachutes, and it works very well.