TYING A PARACHUTE FLOATING NYMPH
Rene Harrop is the inventor of the dubbing ball tying technique. Gary Borger first created the Parachute Floating Nymph. This floating nymph is a stage 2 emerger. In this stage, the insect is attached to the surface film. At the same time, it is about to break out of the nymphal skin. The ball of CDC dubbing is acting as the wings about to break out.
Materials for Parachute Floating Nymph
| Part: | Materials: | Size/Color: |
| Hook: | Akita | AK503BL #12 |
| Thread: | UTC | Dark Brown 70 |
| Tail: | Partridge | Brown |
| Body: | Rabbit Fur | Brown |
| Wing Ball: | CDC | Khaki Campbell |
| Hackle: | Dry Fly Hackle | Brown |
| Thorax: | Rabbit Fur | Brown |
Video Instructions on How to Tie a Parachute Floating Nymph
Video coming soon.Slideshow on How To Tie a Parachute Floating Nymph
Step 1 – Tie In the Tail and Make the Body
Begin tying in your tying thread and make an even tread base until the thread is aligned with the hook’s barb. Tie in a few Partridge fibers for the tail. The tail should be a bit shorter than the body. Make a small dubbing noodle and build up the body of the floating nymph pattern. You should stop close to the midpoint between the barb and the hook’s eye.
Step 2 – Make the Wing Ball, Hackle, and Thorax
Cut off CDC fibers from the stem. Use some CDC feathers of lower quality that you can not use for wings. It is enough for a size #12 fly with fibers from 1 to 2 CDC feathers.
Make a dubbing noodle with the CDC dubbing. Hold your tying thread straight up from the hook and slide the dubbing noodle down. Press the dubbing ball against the hook and secure it with a wrap of thread around the hook. Post the dubbing ball by making a few thread wraps around the wing ball.
Tie in a dry fly hackle feather with the shiny side away from the wing ball and make a few wraps with the hackle feather and tie it off. Continue making a dubbing noodle and build up the thorax. Complete the fly with a whip finish or a few half-hitches and some varnish.
How to Fish the Parachute Floating Nymph
During hatches, it is often experienced that the fish will not take even a perfect imitation of the insect. In some cases, this might be because the fish feeds on the insect while it is in a different stage of emergence. The Parachute Floating Nymph imitates an emerger attached to the surface film and has wings that are about to break out of the nymphal skin. Sometimes this floating nymph can be the fly you should serve dead drift to a rising fish upstream.
