Recipe HOOK: Mustad 94840 #12-18. THREAD: Black Gudebrod 8/0. TAIL: White calf tail. BODY: Hareline Pheasant Tail Microtube. POST: Float-vis. HACKLE: Brown. THORAX: Hareline Peacock Ice Dub.

Para-Variant
There are some tricks to tapering microtube bodies. Tie in the tail about 2/3 of the way up the shaft toward the eye of the hook, just short of where you will tie in your parachute. Then tie your parachute material on top of the hook, overlapping the tail fibers halfway down the shank toward the bend of the hook. Tie in the microtubing just behind the parachute material on the far side of the hook, being careful to keep it straight as you tie it in. by staggering the tie-in point of your materials, you will create a "stepped" taper you can smooth over with a thread. When you wrap the microtubing body it takes the shape of the underbody.

When tying small flies the overlap of the parachute may not give you the taper you are looking for. You can taper the body more by not stretching the microtubing when you tie it in. As you bind down the material and move toward the hook bend pull and stretch the material so it becomes thinner as you move toward the rear of the fly. This technique is useful on any #20 fly or smaller because of the smaller bulk of the parachute wing material.

1.Tie in a tail of white calf tail.

2. Tie in a two-color parachute-style wing made of Float-vis. When you fish small drys in the eddies and foam lines, a white parachute is difficult to see. I tie the parachute in varying colors of Float-Vis to match the lighting conditions on the water, because depending on the glare, one color can be easier to see than another.

3. Tie in the brown microtubing.

4. Wrap the microtubing forward, tapering the body as described above. Tie in barred ginger or furnace hackle at the base of the parachute wing.

5. Dub the thorax with Peacock Ice Dub, wrap the hackle, and whip-finish. I recommend a few extra wraps of hackle on size #14 flies and larger to support the weight of a dropper nymph.

Vince Wilcox is a professional fly tier. He lives in Loveland, Colorado, and works part-time at Angler's Roost fly shop.

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