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Sulphur Parachute

Broadheadscreek

Broadheadscreek

Proud Member Of The 10% Club
Can't wait for some warmer weather and one of my favorite hatches the sulphurs . It is a late afternoon and evening hatch here on my home waters.And up in the Catskills an afternoon hatch all of which are pretty spectacular at times.The fish seem to be motivated by these little yellow mayflies and feed vigorously on them. Depending on the water you are on the fish can become picky, this is where the parachute excels as it mimics both the dun and emergent stage of this mayfly, as well as covering the spinner fall. This pattern is tied using a dyed porcupine quill and floats quite well, I tye it in sizes 14 down to size 18.So tye some of these up and be prepared when the sulphur action begins! :)

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Very nice AL. Looks great, I've been tying a shit load of turkey quill cdc sulpher comparauns.
 
Very nice, will have to bum a few off you this spring - I hate tying quill bodies, and dyed porcupine quill? I'll keep to the simple dubbed bodies.


Love and hate sulphur season. Fishing is good no doubt, but every stream in the Northeast is on fire at the same time (well, the Pequest is a touch late) and it is hard to make up my mind where to go. Every time I meet someone who has a home stream that I'm not familiar with, the offer is always the same - "come and visit for the sulphurs"
 
Awesome parachute!!! one of favorite patterns. I could use some sulphers right about now.
 
Thank you guys!

WB I used natural cdc for the post I find myself using it more as it makes the fly a little easier to see . Due to the way it spreads out when you apply frogs fanny to it.
 
Hi Allen,

Your fly looks just great! Some of the biggest trout I've caught on dry's were caught on sulphur quill body parachutes. I use D's quills for the ones that I tie with polypropylene posts. Your hackle looks just like the kind that you used to be able to get from Fred Reese's Trout shop. Half was dyed sulphur yellow and the other half orange.

Regards,
Mark
 
Thank you Mark ,

The hackle I use on these is whiting 100's and I have a whiting straw neck that I use as well beautiful stuff..
 
Awesome fly Allen! Why do you use porcupine quills? Any particularly advantages over biots?

Thanks!
 
gadfly said:
Awesome fly Allen! Why do you use porcupine quills? Any particularly advantages over biots?

Thanks!
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Hi Gadfly,
Thank you ! Porcupine is more durable than biots for sure not to mention they are hollow and hold air which makes them very buoyant. Last thing you want to do is stand in the middle of a late evening sulphur hatch trying to change a fly that has had the biots ripped off by a few trout.The porcupine takes a beating and holds up to a lot of takes for sure, much more than any fly tied with a biot that I have seen.:)
 
If you're stuck with just goose biots though, and don't have porcupine, use a bit of Crazy Glue on your thread base before you wrap the biot in.
 
Broadheadscreek said:
Hi Gadfly,
Thank you ! Porcupine is more durable than biots for sure not to mention they are hollow and hold air which makes them very buoyant. Last thing you want to do is stand in the middle of a late evening sulphur hatch trying to change a fly that has had the biots ripped off by a few trout.The porcupine takes a beating and holds up to a lot of takes for sure, much more than any fly tied with a biot that I have seen.:)
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Thanks for posting this, very informative!
 
Just perused the J Stockard catalog and did a quick internet search. Seems like dyed porcupine quills are hard to come by. Do you dye your own?
 
gadfly said:
Just perused the J Stockard catalog and did a quick internet search. Seems like dyed porcupine quills are hard to come by. Do you dye your own?
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Hi Gadfly,
Due to the huge numbers of porcupine hit by cars on the way to the Caskills I have a never ending supply . That being said you can get most of what you'll ever need from one , I look for the best ones along the road stop and pluck a bag full off there are thousands of the thinner guard hairs on one and these are what you want. Bring them home wash them and prepare a dye bath with rit( liquid dye not the dry stuff) I use yellow as my base and add a drop of scarlet mixed in to get this color. After I have the bath made up I just toss in the cleaned quills stir them around a bit to be sure they are cover in the liquid and put them in the microwave for a minute to heat it all up.Then take the container out and let it stand until they take to the color I like , usually takes about 15-20 minutes. After this take them out and rinse them under warm water and put them on a paper towel to dry. It's not to hard to do so give it a try as these can be dyed any color you need to match the hatch.
 
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Broadheadscreek said:
Hi Gadfly,
Due to the huge numbers of porcupine hit by cars on the way to the Caskills I have a never ending supply . That being said you can get most of what you'll ever need from one , I look for the best ones along the road stop and pluck a bag full off there are thousands of the thinner guard hairs on one and these are what you want. Bring them home wash them and prepare a dye bath with rit( liquid dye not the dry stuff) I use yellow as my base and add a drop of scarlet mixed in to get this color. After I have the bath made up I just toss in the cleaned quills stir them around a bit to be sure they are cover in the liquid and put them in the microwave for a minute to heat it all up.Then take the container out and let it stand until they take to the color I like , usually takes about 15-20 minutes. After this take them out and rinse them under warm water and put them on a paper towel to dry. It's not to hard to do so give it a try as these can be dyed any color you need to match the hatch.
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Good stuff. Not many would share this. I'm glad to hear others look for road kill. LOL
 
Always up to the challenge of working with a new material. When you get a chance, post a few pics of these guard hairs so I know what to look for and I can chase the vultures and crows off and work quickly, before the wife and family vomit all over the car. I typically see these things dead up in VT. Of course now that I'm actually looking for one, I'll probably never see another one.
 
So If I see you molesting road kill up my way I tell the cops in not a crazy homeless person, Its just Allen
 
Trout Nazi said:
Always up to the challenge of working with a new material. When you get a chance, post a few pics of these guard hairs so I know what to look for and I can chase the vultures and crows off and work quickly, before the wife and family vomit all over the car. I typically see these things dead up in VT. Of course now that I'm actually looking for one, I'll probably never see another one.
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Hi Trout Nazi ,

Here are a few pictures of the quills before and after. When pulling the quills try to get the long thin guard hairs for wrapping, if you want some for extended body flies grab a few of the stout ones as well.As you are pulling them look for the ones that are white well up the quill so there is enough area for the dye to take and show. Good luck and make sure you carry some vomit bags in the car on your adventure ! As nothing ruins a road trip like having to clean vomit out of your seats and carpet at the end of the day. ;)
Before..
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After...

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Thanks for the info, now its a matter of finding some fresh road-kill. Once I pick over some carcasses, I'll have to get some more details from you on cleaning procedure, type of dye, soak time, etc. Did you ever try permanent marker, does that work?

In the mean time, I have a line on purchasing some quills. After a bit of Googling, a dude named Rob Mclean seems to be the authority on quills. I'm going to request a catalog from him and I'll report back to you guys when I get it.
 
Just a heads up to all those interested in P-quills. I have found some on line they are dyed and overseas. Sucks the exchange rate is a joke. After shipping and the exchange pack of quills is 12.76 US!!!! Really hits home realizing what the dollar is worth. So until things pick up road kill it is. Thanks again Broadshead for this thread! I have saved this to my computer for future reference.
 
Trout Nazi said:
Fear not! Tell those fuckers to keep their quills. Go here:

Rob McLean

Rob is apparently to p-quills, what Chris Helm is to deer hair.
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I used McLeans quills until the supply dried up at the local fly shops , So I searched for a viable and ready source close at hand .The beauty of it is I find them on my way fishing, there is little or no cost incurred other then the dye and you can dye them any color you would like.As well as covering all the size ranges you would like to have to tye with. But for convenience sake McLeans is the way to go.
 
Oh I'll be on the lookout for porcupine pie on the roads, but the reality is between now and when the Hendricksons start poppin, its unlikely that my travels will take me into porcupine habitat, and I can see a real use for these quills in my rusty spinners (where I normally use biot). I find that my larger biot bodied flies take more of a beating than the smaller ones. I also find turkey biot to be stronger than goose.
 
man i wish i knew bout this couple months ago they were dead all over.... allen what type of dye do you use and where do you get it?
 
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