#32 CDC Olive Parachute

Chris' notes

#32 CDC Olive Parachute

Hans Weilenmann

I did my best to recreate conditions favorable for this effort by cracking open a new bottle of scotch and putting a dimmer bulb in the tying lamp. The result isn't pretty, but it isn't visible either so I won't tell if you won't. 8^)

Did a CDC Olive Parachute type thingie

I snelled a piece of 7x tippet to the spade end, and whip finished on the tippet immediately ahead of the spade. Didn't plan it that way, but the thread moved off the head as I was tightening and I didn't want to risk failure by undoing it.

Why this pattern?
It's one of a few flies I can tie reliably in a size #26, figured I should go with something safe since I only had one chance.

I wanted to do an OBA just to get into the spirit of things but once I saw the hook I knew that wasn't going to happen. I didn't have two hackles that were small enough.

I used CDC for the post instead of my preferred turkey flats only because CDC adds no bulk to the fly at the tie-in. It lacks stiffness, sure, so I dabbed a tiny bit of cement to the base of the post.

"Problems" and solutions:
The barb on the hook was a problem, the thread kept catching on it and fraying the thread. None of my pliers could fit in that gape to mash the barb, so I stuck a little epoxy in the barb gape and that solved the problem. Still gave me the problem of not being able to fit much stuff around the hook shank, but my thread didn't fray. Only other problem was that the hook was too damned small, but I guess we all had that problem. 8^)

Miscellaneous tidbits:
I snelled it so that you could use it in your goldfish tank. Oh, and it was tied on an old stamped-metal Herter's tying vise that Bill Barnard gave me last year. No midge jaws, didn't want to cheat. 8^)

Thanks again for the delightful challenge, sir. I enjoyed it.

Tier info:

Chris Knight, Syracuse NY. Dry fly snob and bad poet.
My motto: "Death Before Strike Indicators". Philosopher by training, home remodeler by profession. I'm a lazy fly tyer, I generally tie whatever I feel like tying with whatever materials I happen to have handy, rather than tying specific patterns with the correct materials. My boxes are full of...um..."variants" as a result of that tendency.