Central Alberta Fly Tying Club: Paraloop Flies with Doug Pullen

Doug Pullen was our guest instructor tonight and he showed 27 fellow fly tyers the ins and outs of tying paraloop flies. Doug's presentation is detailed below along with the 3 flies Doug taught everybody to tie. Again Doug, your presentation was fabulous. We all learned a lot!

...a few reminders:

1. The IF4 Film Festival is next Wednesday March 2nd. You can get tickets on line RIGHT HERE, or you can get tickets at TC Outfitters or at the door. The IF4 Film Festival is at Carnival Theatre. The doors open at 6 pm and the show starts at 6:30 pm. Josh Nugent from Out Fly Fishing Outfitters will be here to host the show.

Lets get a big turn out everybody!

2. Next week, Dr. Bill Young is our guest instructor. We will be tying quill body flies, a fly tying style that A.K. Best popularized. See you then!

Paraloop Flies

Many a person goes fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not the fish they are after. In other words, it’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the journey.

The fly fisher has many fly options that can be used depending on the conditions at hand. Dry flies, wet flies, emergers, nymphs, and streamers are possible choices. Circumstances will dictate their use. Feathers have been incorporated in fly designs since the dawn of fly fishing. One method of incorporating a feather in the fly is a process called hackling. There are different ways to hackle a fly be it a dry fly, wet fly, emerger, nymph or streamer. The paraloop method is one way to hackle a fly that provides options to the angler that are not available using other hackling methods.

Whether the water you fish is your home waters or some exotic place. Your prey being small golden trout or large steelhead, the fly you offer must be convincing to arouse a strike. There are countless patterns available but selecting the best one is sometimes a daunting task especially if fish are finicky. A subtle modification in fly design can make all the difference. A fly that uses a paraloop can sometime mean the difference between a good day on the water to a great day.

Paraloop flies can be fished in all types of water; paraloops will not cover all fishing situations. But at the right time and place, they will more than prove themselves.

The paraloop method of hackling a fly does not have a long history and has not been widely used in the past, but that is changing. Books and articles are starting to feature this method of hackling. Some fly tyers call this method Hackle Stackers, others use the term Pullovers. Whatever name is used, the process remains the same.

So what makes Paraloop flies special? It is the profile that the fly presents when on or in the water. With no hackle below the hook shank allowing the fly to sit low.

The orientation of all paraloop flies is they lay flat on the water’s surface. Therefore the materials used in constructing the body and thorax of the fly should be such that they minimize any water absorption. The hackle that provides the best results when tying paraloop flies should come from neck capes. These feathers hackle fibres that are stiff and straight which allows for a tidy and effective hackle brush to be made. The hackle is wrapped around a post to form the hackle brush. Examples of the materials that can be used for the Hackle post are: Gel-Spun Polypropylene, Kevlar, Super Floss, Mono Tippet or just tying thread.

One of the major features of a Paraloop fly is that the hook is ideally placed for hooking the fish. It is this hooking ability which makes a paraloop fly excellent to fish with. The lack of hackle under the hook shank results in easier and more effective hook-ups.

When comparing traditional tied dry flies and dry flies using the paraloop method, they both have their place. A traditionally hackled dry fly sits on top of the water’s surface while a paraloop sits in the water’s surface much like a parachute fly. Paraloops are more flexible than the parachute style of fly allowing more variation and options.

Paraloop fly designs can position the hackle brush in an open loop or closed loop configuration. The hackle brush can also be secured at the front of the fly, or the back of the fly or even along the entire top of the hook shank. These configurations and orientations provide the angler with options to address different hatch and water conditions.

Important differences when comparing Paraloop flies to traditionally hackled dry flies are:

There is no hackle attached to the side or base of the hook; all the hackle is attached on the top of the hook shank.
The only hackle fibres extending below the level of the hook shank are the tips of the hackle brush
The paraloop fly sits lower in the water
The hackle is full assisting in the floatability of the fly.
The fly when on the water has a very distinct profile.
The hook point is clean of any materials.

All these points can make a real difference in how the fly appears to a fish and the way in which it acts on the water. Flies using the paraloop method allow a full and bushy hackle that greatly assists in keeping the fly afloat. The profile of the fly on the waters is unquestionably of major importance. It has been proven that fish are extremely partial to flies sitting in the surface of the water as opposed to floating high on the water’s surface.

Difference pattern types are can utilize the paraloop method are:

Dry flies
Emergers
Buzzer/Chironomid/Midge
Spent wing flies
Wet flies

There are a few different methods that can be adopted when making paraloop flies. The most common method is using a gadget called the Gallows tool which attaches to your vise. The sole purpose of the gallows tool is to apply tension to the hackle post at the various stages of tying the paraloop fly. Other methods have been used with good success as well. These include using one of your fingers to hold the hackle loop tight while your other fingers are wrapping the hackle or using antron yarn to form the hackle post and applying a small amount of UV epoxy to stiffen the hackle post before wrapping the hackle. The hackle brush is then pulled over the body/thorax and tied off. This design is very durable and the stiff hackles are easy to dry out with a couple of false casts.

The paraloop method is worthy of inclusion in every fly tyer’s repertoire of tying techniques.