Paradry Winging Material
Frank Williams, a good friend of mine, called in to see me over the weekend. I hadn’t seen him for a while although we do tend to keep in contact via phone.
Frank’s a full-time guide and coach and his usual stomping grounds are the Rivers Usk, Wye, Monnow and their tributaries.He’s a recommended guide for the Wye and Usk Foundation and also runs several courses throughout the year at the Gliffaes Hotel. We occasionally meet up to fish on some of the other South Wales Rivers that I frequent and also at events that I organise for the Welsh region of the Game Angling Instructors Association. Well, after getting the kettle on and chowing down on a couple of welcome Bacon butties we had time to chat and catch up on a few things. Although the winter had been quiet for Frank, he’d been quite busy developing something to complement his guiding and coaching business and was eager to discuss some of the products that he was offering.
First out of the bag was Paradry floss. Made by JMC, I hadn’t seen it for sale in the UK before. As the label says ‘Waterproof fibres for making parachute fly wing posts, tags and streamer bodies.’ So a multiple of uses.
Paradry floss
It’s a single strand, multifibre floss that comes in a variety of colours. The variety of colours is particularly useful for varying light conditions. Black is especially good when the water is glassy and the light is reflecting directly toward you. I know there are other materials out there that we can use to make parachute posts but pulling some of the floss off the spool soon got me thinking about all the uses I could put it to. Besides that, it’s half the price of another well-known brand!
I haven’t had a lot of time to do much lately due to work commitments and also getting orders ready for the new season. But I had 5 minutes tonight and decided to try it on one of the most successful modern patterns, the Klinkhammer Special designed by Hans van Klinken:
Klinkhammer Special
The first thing I noticed was that the single strand was fine enough to tie small flies without having to split it. Of course, a Klinkhammer is a particularly big fly anyway so on the size 16 above I doubled the floss just to give the wing post added bulk for visibility at distance. The problem with doubling the floss for the wing post is often that you end up with a rather large ‘buttress’ (I thank Gareth Lewis for that description!) to wrap your hackle around. Not so with this floss.
Wing post base compression
When creating the post base, I found that I was able to compress the post so that the hackle wrapped evenly and didn’t twist or vary so that the hackle fibres pointed in the direction I wanted them to go which is always a bonus.
Parachute Post Front View
Additionally, even though it was compressed, the fibres were supple enough to flare and create that characteristic teardrop wing shape.
I’m sure there are many other uses for this material such as wings for reservoir dries, Stimulators or even added as part of an elk hair wing for visibility or to complement body colour but don’t take my word for it. As yet I haven’t taken the flies I’ve tied out for a ride on the nearest set of rapids so I can’t comment on the performance. However, tests in very calm glasses of water have proven very positive!
Why not take a look at Franks’ outlet at Guides Choice Fly Fishing Tackle? He’s got many more bits and pieces that I’m hoping to get my hands on soon!
what a gorgeous Klink !
cheers,
marc
Just seen your comment Marc.
Many thanks! Not my usual tie but that should all be changing soon. Seatrout and Salmon season here we come!
Nice post Alun! Love it…as you know, I’m a bit of a Klinkhamer geek. Also, what can I say? I do love a bit of butress! haha
You? A Klinhammer geek? Nah! Since you used that term, I can’t seem to get it out of my head! It describes it in word though!
Have a good night at ‘Care in the Community’. Ha! Ha! Speak soon.