PARACHUTE MIDGE
Hook: Turned-down eye scud hook, sizes 24 to 10.
Thread: Gray 6/0 (140 denier).
Abdomen: Tying thread.
Rib: Fine copper wire.
Parachute post: Hot pink or green egg or polypropylene yarn.
Thorax: Gray dubbing.
Hackle: Grizzly.
Antenna: Tuft of grizzly Chickabou or other marabou-type feather.
Comments: We tie this fly in a range of colors, but this general design is our best adult midge pattern. It is one of our year around go-to flies for matching an adult chironomid.
BLUE-WINGED OLIVE PARACHUTE
Hook: Standard dry fly hook, sizes 22 to 14.
Thread: Dark olive 6/0 (140 denier).
Tail: Dun hackle fibers .
Abdomen: Stripped peacock herl.
Wings: Looped Wonder Wings, dun.
Parachute post: Formed at the base of the divided wings.
Thorax: Mixed olive and gray dubbing.
Hackle: Dun.
Comments: A parachute post of gray polypropylene yarn on this Baetis imitation makes a great substitute for the wings.
GREEN DRAKE WATER WALKER
Hook: Standard dry fly hook, sizes 14 to 10.
Thread: Olive 6/0 (140 denier).
Tail: Deer body hair, stacked.
Wings: Deer body hair, stacked.
Body: Olive dubbing.
Rib: Yellow floss
Hackle: Barred ginger, wrapped Water Walker style.
Options: We like Frank Johnson’s Water Walker double-parachute wrap on this late spring Ephemerella imitation, but some tiers find it difficult to tie. Often equally effective is a standard or parachute hackle application, or check out the crisscross parachute wrap on the Grizzly Wulff.
BLACK QUILL
Hook: Standard dry fly hook, sizes 14 to 10.
Thread: Black or dark gray 6/0 (140 denier).
Tail: Dark dun hackle fibers.
Abdomen: Stripped dark dun hackle stem.
Wings: Looped Wonder Wings, dark dun.
Thorax: Dark gray dubbing.
Hackle: Dark dun.
Comments: The Leptophlebia hatch is often sporadic and difficult to identify. We try this pattern when everything else fails; sometimes it works, and other times it doesn’t. We like placing dubbing under a standard wrapped hackle to maintain the body outline after the fly gets wet.
MALLARD HACKLE STACKER
Hook: Standard dry fly hook, sizes 16 to 10.
Thread: Gray 6/0 (140 denier) y 6/0 (140 denier).
Tail: Dun hackle fibers.
Rib: Fine copper wire.
Abdomen: Gray dubbing.
Hackle anchor: Flexi Floss.
Hackle: Dun.
Thorax: Peacock herl or dark gray dubbing.
Wing: Mallard fiber clump.
Options:We also tie this Callibaetis imitation as an emerger using a scud hook with gray Antron instead of hackle fibers for the tail.
MOTHER’S DAY CADDIS (DOUBLE FLY)
Hook: 3X-long dry fly hook, sizes 14 to 12.
Thread: Brown 6/0 (140 denier).
Body: Dark tan dubbing.
Rib: Fine copper wire.
Hackle: Brown.
Wing: Elk hair.
Comments: This pattern matches the Mother’s Day caddisfly. These insects are so prolific on the Yellowstone and Madison Rivers that you must keep your mouth closed to avoid swallow ing them. We often fish two flies on a single hook to imitate the mating insects; the fish seem to like this double pattern.
LITTLE BLACK CADDIS
Hook: Standard dry fly hook, size 18 or 16.
Thread: Black 6/0 (140 denier).
Butt: Trimmed underbody.
Body: Waste ends from the underbody.
Rib: Tying thread.
Hackle: Black.
Wing: Black elk hair under dark goose quill, folded over and trimmed.
Comments: In many parts of the West, including Montana’s Bitterroot River, this fly is also referred to as the Mother’s Day caddisfly. We’re not entomologists and are not sure which of the two patterns we offer here are the actual Mother’s Day Caddis, but we use both and they are definitely worth having in your fly box.
Al and Gretchen are also well-respected fly tying teachers. A couple of seasons ago, they were recognized with a Fly Tyer magazine Lifetime Achievement Award. For information about their flies, books, and much more, go to their website, www.btsflyfishing.com.
