Parachute Post Duel: Picking the Best Color and Material

Guest Blogger: Joe Dellaria, Learning from the River 

Our guide had given us a list of places to try on the days we weren’t fishing with him. It was mid-afternoon on our first day alone and fish were rising all over the place. It was BWO hatch and the fish preferred an emerger pattern, but I could not see the fly on the water. The angle of the sun caused the fly to disappear in the glare on the water. I elected to use a two-fly rig with a hi-vis lead fly and the emerger as the dropper. White, yellow, and even orange hi-vis post materials all disappeared in the sun’s glare. Out of desperation, I put on a flying ant pattern with a red post. Eureka, I could see the ant and that helped me locate the emerger. Better yet, the fish split fairly evenly between the two flies. It was mid-April – not your typical time for a flying ant hatch – but if that’s what the fish like, that’s what I was going to give them.

Over the ensuing years, I have found through trial and error, which post colors work best, in different conditions. The chart below summarizes my experiences. Others may, or may not agree. That’s fine, as in the end the fly has to be visible to the one using it whether or not others agree. I use these basic colors. There are numerous other shades of each color and other colors. I try to minimize the number of flies I have. This set seems to cover most situations.

Fishing Situations Vs. Parachute Post Color 

If you are like me and want to carry the fewest possible flies, I would recommend carrying sizes #12, #14, and #16 with red posts for sun glare situations and hi-vis orange for low light conditions. I cheat and carry a couple of #12 white posts for sunrise and sunset. However, I would suggest you experiment and determine which colors are most visible for you.

Choosing the Best Material - I have evaluated numerous qualities* to evaluate the different post material and whittled it down to the following list:

• Visibility – how well does the material show on the water
• Durability – how well does the material hold up to catching numerous fish
• Weight – the weight of the post material can cause the fly to lose flotation, lighter materials require less treatment with a floatant
• Water Shedding – how well does the material shed water during false casting, if the material holds water it adds weight causing the fly to sink
• Bulkiness – how much bulk does the material cause during tying, bulkiness makes it difficult to get a fly body with proper proportions
• Stiffness – how easily is the material crushed to flatten the post, this can occur in your fly box or after catching multiple fish, once the post crushes it is more difficult to see the fly on the water

*These are terms I made up. It is purely coincidental if you happen to find other sources that refer to the qualities I am considering. I actually assessed other qualities but eliminated them, as they did not provide differences between the post materials considered.

I tied a #12 parachute fly with each of the following materials: 1- Calf Tail, 2- Poly Yarn, 3 - Dyed Deer Hair, 4 - Z-Lon Post, 5 - SLF Fine Dubbing, 6 - Para Post (Orange) and 7 - Neer Hair. All but one were tied with red (Para Post was tied with ii-vis Orange). Front and Top view pictures are below. All of these post materials are available at J. Stockard! 

TOP VIEW OF PARACHUTE FLIES 

TOP VIEW OF PARACHUTE FLIES 

The pictures provide a sense of how well the fly might show on the water. One of the problems is consistently getting the same amount of post material for each fly – obviously, I was not that consistent. However, you get the picture.

I have fished with each type of post material and made a table assessing on a scale of 1 to 5 how well each post material fulfilled the qualities discussed above. One is the lowest score indicating the material was poor for the quality and five is the highest indicating it was best. This is a qualitative rating, as I did not attempt to use measurements of some sort. So take this as an attempt to be semi-scientific.

The table below tabulates my scores for seven post materials for the six qualities.

Table Rating Post Materials in Six Qualities

Neer Hair and Z-Lon Post scored identically in all categories and had the highest score. The only differentiating factor between the two is cost. Neer Hair is about 3-times less expensive than Z-Lon. For that reason, it is my top choice.

You can look at the ranking table to make other comparisons. Below I summarized the pros and cons of each material in another chart. Again, these are my opinions based on my experience. I would be happy to hear from others who differ.

Pros and Cons of Each Post Material

A Quick Tying Tip - I don’t recall where I saw this first. My preferred method for attaching post material is to hold the post material parallel to the length of the hook and make 3-4 wraps around the post material and hook. Then pull the two ends of the post together and lift up from the hook. Now wrap thread 1/8”-3/16” up the post and back to the post. Another slick trick is to add a drop of cyanoacrylic (CAN) to the thread wrapped post area. This stiffens the area making it easier to wrap the parachute hackle.

So there you have it. My experience indicates that Neer Hair scores high in all the qualities assessed and is substantially less expensive than Z-Lon. So it is my preferred material for parachute posts. After the top two, all of the other materials were essentially the same. There were trade-offs between the different qualities. In a pinch, any of these materials are serviceable.

If you need help on methods for tying a parachute fly, you can find numerous videos with a quick internet search on “tying a parachute fly.” I recommend watching 3-4 as each tier offers something you might find helpful.

Now comes the fun, using the flies to catch trout. Go get them!