This is my take on the reversed parachutes made famous by Roy. The plan was to spend a week fishing with Roy on his home waters, but circumstances will not permit. It’s not much consolation, but I thought I would try out some of his ideas on my local waters. Here’s the first.
Hook: J:Son Grub size 16
Thread: Veevus 14/0 [?] White
Thorax Cover: 1mm Foam, Black
Hackle: Floating polypropylene Yarn, Black
Thorax: Hare’s ear
Abdomen: Stripped peacock dyed yellow
To make the hackle tie the poly yarn in as you would the post for a parachute. Then you need a tool. I’m fortunate in that Ken Newton made me one specially for this job. However a nail driven into a piece of wood for a handle will do, the nail head needs to be about 1/8" (3mm) diameter. You need to make sure the end is flat with a file. Push the tool down on top of the yarn post and rotate it so it spreads the yarn like a hackle. When you take the tool away the yarn will spring back into a cone. To set the yarn in shape heat the flat end of the tool a little in a flame. (Get a grown up to supervise this). Then push it down into the middle of the cone of poly yarn. It will work fished like this, but I like to reinforce the set of the “hackle” with a drop of Diamond Hard UV resin in the centre. I also use Diamond Hard as a coating on the abdomen.
May be a new technique to some.
Cheers,
A.