Do any of you consider tying different coloured parachute posts for different light conditions?
A good example: I like to tie Yellow parachute posts on some of my flies because I find them a lot easier to see when the sun is low and shining directly downstream when that glare can really be a pain. I find the yellow posts show up a lot better against the glare compared to white ones, but white is more visible in general light conditions.
Does anyone do anything similar?
Also, what materials do you prefer for wing posts? I Like using CDC for wingposts. I have tried Antron and Dyed Buck tail but find CDC a lot easier to control when creating the post, but perhaps it’s because that’s what I started with. Anyone use any strange/innovative materials for their posts?
I use White posts for areas in the stream or river that are flat and without to much foam in them. The Yellow, Orange, Pink and so on are great for the fast water areas of a stream and in flat light Black is a great color as you can see it against the sheen on the stream or river. Been using them that way for many years. Ron
I recently tied up a bunch and used bright orange antron(?) or antron-like material. Somewhere I read that bright orange is the easiest color for sighting something. I don’t know if it has any effect on the fish because, supposidly fish can’t see the parachute wing. Maybe, maybe not. I can tell you that the fly is easily picked out and distinguishable on the water.
Try tying in a white poly post and orange poly post side-by-side. Ive been tying little pieces of foam in both colors on the top of my hoppers. That way I have the best of both colors. I have also seen foam posts that are white with a hot tip color on top.
I like pink for parachute posts. It shows up well under almost all light conditions. White is my least favorate as it get lost in the many flecks of foam in my local river.
Mostly my parachutes are tied with white wing posts, but I do also use fl. orange on some and I also use Light Dun for the posts on my blue winged olives. As far as the material for the posts go, I strongly prefer turkey flats or turkey T-base feathers. I’m not a natural material purist by any means, but I do like the look of the natural material as opposed to synthetics such as anton or Hi-Vis. Between the turkey flats or T-base feathers, I do slightly prefer the T-base to the flats as the tips seem a bit more even to me, but they both work fine really.
Bastion,
“Flourescent” pink works best for me in 99% of my onstream glare toubles. But black also is good in some cases as it stands apart in lower light days.
I use the cylindrical foam parachute posts sometimes if the water is fast. I’ll get them in white and use a marker to color them pink, orange, red or black when I’m on the stream. I do believe they help float the fly a little better in rough water, if anything will.
Joe
Hehehe - sorry to divert from the subject, but Darryl, I love your quote at the end of your message. I’m reading my first Gierach book now - Standing in the river waving a stick.
Not so strange or innovative but, a couple materials I like are the synthetic polar bear (I think it’s called Polybear?) and the Enrico Puglasi fibers. The syn PB is just poly yarn and a little flash that comes in “hanks”. Not sure what the EP fibers are but they shed water very well, come in some nice colors and a pack of it should be enough to last a lifetime!
The syn pb makes great spinner wings too…the EP fibers are a litle too soft for them…Jason 8)
Either Poly Post or Hi Vis are my favourites, though i use general Polypropelene yarn, CDC and calf tail for parachutes. In cloudy conditions i like an all black mayfly, often the lack of sun will render mayflies a darker colour and sometimes black so it is not unrealistic. The black post is very easy to see in these conditions and the fish don’t mind at all