My first dry fly, any advice?

[boychick]

I tied this size 12 parachute adams to begin learning to tie dry flies. I didn't have grizley hackle so I used white and hit it with a sharpie marker (does not work that well). What do you guys think? Will it fish?

 

[ebroesicke]

yes, it will fish. Really not bad for your first try. If I was nit picking I might say there is a little too much material in the tail, and the hackle looks like it is a little spaced out ( ie. make the wraps right next to each other). Other than that it looks good. Now go fish it and take a picture of the first fish you catch on it, and then retire it to a special place. Its a cool feeling to fool a trout on your own fly.

Erik

 

[boychick]

Thanks Erik, I appreciate the advice.

 

[whheff]

It will fish!
For your first dry fly, that is really good.
Bill

 

[lv2nymph]

Keep one of your first dries and don't lose it, in a year or so compare it to the dries you're tying then. It's pretty cool to see how far you've come. You're fly will catch fish, enjoy life on top. You're off to a good start.

 

[Chaz]

You sure piked a tough fly for your first one, I think parachute patterns are the toughest of all flies you tie, except for salmon flies. Good job. I still can't tie them so that I like them and I've been tying for quite a while.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Here's a cool video on how to tie a paracute Adams - it's kinda long, but there's a lot of good technique in it.

Your fly looks pretty good for a first attempt!

 

[just_jon]

Better than my first attempt and I doubt the fish will have an issue provided the color and size closely match the natural. I keep a box of flies I first ties when I was about 12. They are extremely crude, but I never had problems catching trout with them.

 

[FrequentTyer]

If I had a picture of my first dry fly, I promise you i would not post it. Your parachute Adams looks great! You are off to a really good start. Now the hard part is to be able to tie 6 or 12 that all look the same.
Mike.

 

[gaeronf]

Try some non-parachute dry flies. The ability to tie wings on dry-flies is a great skill to have, and is a little tricky at first. Work on it, it will pay off.

As for your fly, I have nothing to add the 8 or 9 posts prior to mine have all the feedback you would need.

 

[boychick]

Thanks to everyone for their critique and advice. I wasn't sure about the first effort. Thanks for the complements. I've been tying flies for about 4 years now. I started with globugs and generic nymphs, and then graduated to streamers. I always avoided tying dry flies because I thought it was too complicated or way beyond my skill level. I still have a box of my first flies, man are they UGLY!

 

[fishbaithohaha]

gareonf had a very good video on tying parachutes. if you can find it, watching the video will pay dividends.

 

[boychick]

fishbait, thanks for the advice. Gaeronf, is the video on your blog?

 

[dryflyguy]

That looks petty good to me.
I also think that parachutes are one of the tougher flys to tie, and would recommend something easier.
My first dry was a traditional cahill -

mallard flank wing
ginger hackle
light tan dubbing body
ginger hackle fiber tail

 

[perrycountypappy]

That is a really good first fly, I am with others who said they wouldn't show their first dry fly. So I think you did great!

The tighter wraps would help but as you buy hackle look it over there is a big difference in some packs and I would like to tell you the cheaper stuff is just as good as the expensive ones but generally, not all the time but most of the time they are not. But again even with the more expensive ones look them over if you can. If you buy on line make sure of their return policy. J Stockard has been great with me. Fly Shack is also good but you can't always get some brands. Have fun and good luck!