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Parachute Blue Damselfly
Blue Damsel Parachute
1. Attach the hook to the vise and attach your thread just behind the eye. Wrap to the 1/2 position on the shank and, then, back to the 1/3 position. This is where you will attach the wing.
2. Choose two hen hackle tips which are about the twice the hook gap in width. Try to select hackles that have a squared tip rather than a narrow taper. The length of the wings should be from the eye to the bend of the hook.
3. Sweep the barbs back from the hackle to the desired length. Place the two hackles back to back with the curve of the hackles opposing each other. Keep the wing tips even. Place the two hackles on top of the shank with the clean quill, exposed from the swept barbs, directly over the tie down position. Apply two pinch wraps to secure the hackle to the tie down position.
4. Add a couple of tight wraps and trim off the butt ends.
5. Wrap the thread forward and hold the hackle tips back while building thread wraps in front of the hackle. This will allow the hackle to stand upright.
6. Utilize some "x" wraps to divide the hackle tips.
7. Wrap the thread back to the tail tie-in position.
8. Select some tailing fibers from a spade hackle keeping the tips even. Measure the tailing fibers so that they are equal to the hook shank.
9. Place the tailing bundle against the hook shank and let the thread tension bring the bundle to the top of the shank. Secure with two to three additional wraps.
10. Wrap the thread forward securing the tail bundle to the top of the hook shank. Near the base of the wing, lift the tag end of the tail fibers and trim off. Wrap the thread covering all of the tail fibers.
11. Bring the thread back towards the tail tie in position and apply a small amount of dubbing to the thread. Wrap back to the tail tie in position so that the dubbing will just start at that position.
12. Wrap the dubbing forward for a tapered body stopping just behind the wings.
13. Bring the thread in front of the wind. Attach a sized hackle with the butt end in front of the wing. The quill of the hackle should face you. Secure the butts with thread wraps in front of the wings.
14. Bring the hackle back to crease the quill in front of the wing. Then wrap the hackle in front of the wing and behind it. Wrap the hackle back forwards with wraps behind and in front of the wing. Lift the hackle to secure with a couple of thread wraps.
15. Clip off the hackle tag end and cover with thread wraps. Create a small head and whip finish.
Parachute Blue Damselfly
Tying Instructions
1. Attach the thread and layer the front half of the shank. Bring the thread to the midpoint of the shank.
2. Clip a section of dyed Deer Hair, clean the fuzz, and align the tips. Secure the clump at the midpoint of the shank. The butts should extend just beyond the hook eye. Wrap the hair bundle towards the bend of the hook with evenly spaced spiral wraps.
3. Bring the spiral wraps extending beyond the bend of the hook to near the hair tips. The extension should be about 1 1/2 x’s the shank length. Wrap spirally back to the original tie-location at midshank.
4. Bring some wraps around the base of the butt tag and uplift the butts. A thread dam in front of the hairs will help.
5. Attach a hackle by the base to the wingpost. The hackle should be about 1 1/2 the size of the hook gap.
6. Wrap the hackle around the wingpost and secure in front , behind the eye.
7. Bring the parachute forward, twist slightly, and secure with some thread wraps.
8. Clip the excess butts from the front and the rear. Wrap a small head just behind the eye and whip finish. Apply some head cement to the trimmed hair fibers to help secure the wraps.
| Materials
to Order Material, click the link |
|
|---|---|
| Hook | Tiemco 5212, #10-14 |
| Thread | Danville Black 6/0 |
| Body | Dyed Blue Deer Hair |
| Ribbing | Danville Black Thread |
| Wingcase and Wingpost | Dyed Blue Deer Hair |
| Hackle | Med. Dun Hackle |
Parachute Blue Damselfly
The Parachute Blue Damselfly is often tied with bundled deer hair for floatation and to create an extended body. The pattern utilizes the deer hair as a wing post and a thorax by bringing the post forward, after the hackle is applied, and securing with thread wraps just behind the eye. The parachute hackle helps support the fly as well as the hollow deer hair used for the body. Since there are no wings on the fly, casting is much improved, particularly on the windy days when this pattern is most effective. This pattern is also effective in Tan and Green colors. Dress the fly with floatant and allow the fly to lay on the water with just a few twitching actions.
Gary Borger
Gary Borger
Gary Borger came up with his Braided Butt Damsel around 2009. The body consisted of braided monofilament from Cortland that Gary colored with markers for alternating Blue and Black segments. The braided material is now commercially available as Adult Damsel Body. He used Antron Yarn for a wing post that the hackle was wrapped. Then the yarn was pulled over the thorax region and tied off behind the hook eye.
Charlie Craven
Charlie Craven ties a similar pattern utilizing Adult Damsel Body for the body. However, he uses foam for the wing post which provides additional floatation. The foam is pulled over the dubbed thorax once the parachute hackle has been wrapped. Again, no wings needed.
Variations
Borger’s Braided Butt Damsel
| Hook | TMC 100 #10 |
| Thread | Danville 3/0 Black |
| Body | Blue, Adult Damsel Body braid |
| Thorax | Kingfisher Blue Angora Goat dubbing |
| Wingcase and Wingpost | Blue Antron Yarn |
| Hackle | Light Dun Neck Hackle |
Craven’s Parachute Damsel
| Hook | TMC 101 #12-16 |
| Thread | Uni-thread 6/0, Blue |
| Body | Blue, Adult Damsel Body braid |
| Thorax | Kingfisher Blue Angora Goat dubbing |
| Wingcase and Wingpost | Blue 2mm Fly Foam |
| Hackle | Grizzly Hackle |
