Poly-Parachute Tiny Sulphur
Submitted by
Randy Brock
Hook: dry fly
size 18 (TMC or equiv.)
Thread: Uni-thread
8/0 lt. cahill or Gordon Griffith’s 14/0 tan
Tail: light dun
microfibbets (6-9)
Wing:
fluorescent white poly-yarn, antron, or z-lon
Hackle: light
dun
Body:
(1)
I tied the tail in first, using a tiny ball of dubbing at the
hook bend to give some split to the tail.
(2)
Wind the thread two thirds up toward the eye. Tie in wing
material approx. 1" long as you would a spinner wing. Use a minimum
number of wraps to figure 8 it in place, then take one turn of thread in front
of it.
(3)
Grasp both ends of the wing and rotate it 180 deg. so that it
now lies in the same spent position, but UNDERNEATH the hook shank. Pull both
ends of the wing together into the vertical position and wrap up the column to
form the post.
(4)
Wrap back to the tail, then dub forward to the post.
(5)
Tie in hackle on front of post, then wrap around post 3 times,
from top down, tying off close to the hook.
(6)
With thread/bobbin hanging down from directly in front of the
post, pull back hackle with your fingers and dub the head, making sure to
leave room to whip finish behind the eye of the hook.
(7)
Whip finish
(8)
I used a very small amount of head cement to secure the final
wrap.
Comments:
Around Memorial Day of 2005 I
found myself on a local stream without the right fly. Fish were actively
rising, but being around sunset, I had a hard time seeing what they were
eating. Upon closer inspection of the foam line, I spied lots of
sulphurs, but they weren’t the size 14-16 that we expect most of the time
around here. When I got back home I referenced Ross Mueller’s “Fly
Fishing Midwestern Spring Creeks” for some guidance. He describes the
“Light Hendrickson” in size 14-16 that we often see as Ephemerella Rotonda,
and the size 18 “tiny sulphur” as Ephemerella Dorothea. The “tiny
sulphur”, according to Ross, hatches from mid-May through June. From
now on, I will always have a few of these in my dry fly box.