Paraducks Caddis

Paraducks Caddis

This is the dry fly Caddis version of the Ducktail Mayfly.





This is a two material fly. Duck flank and Zelon.

The Zelon fibers form the hackle, mounted Right Hackle style on the bottom of the thorax area. But it could be hair. Snowshoe Rabbit is good. Carpet scraps work well too. Zelon is great for Craig Mathews because it can be dyed. But that's why Dow Chemical stopped producing it. Carpets made with Zelon stained too easily. My local carpet company keeps a dumpster out back I check once or twice a year. When I see olive or gray carpet scraps I grab them.

The hackle is basted loosely in place with one figure eight wrap. And then glued permanently. ZapAGap, water based fabric cement and UV glue all work well.

Easy to tie. Floats well. Dries off quickly. Catches fish with the best of them. It's a Paraducks.

Here's a bottom photo to better illustrate how the fly is tied:



One looooooong figure eight wrap, from front to back, pinches a horizontal crossbar of fibers to the bottom of the thorax, at right angles to the shank. Then you can see-saw the fibers back and forth with fingers from both hands until they are splayed out nicely. Stroke the horizontal fibers with a toothbrush if need be.

Then add a dab of glue and it's done. This fly was made with ZapAGap. But it could just as well have been UV glue or water based fabric cement. Aleene's Stretchable Flexible fabric cement is the best for fly tying. It can be thinned down a bit too. With water.

The fibers here were brown dyed Zelon from Blue Ribbon Flies. But cheap commercial carpet scraps are much the same. One trip to the dumpster behind a big box store carpet outlet will get you a lifetime supply of Right Hackle fibers.