Below is a little personal background and information on the Foam Post Dry Fly that the advanced tiers will be tying this month.
I’ve been fly fishing since my dad gave me his old bamboo rod when I was about 9 years old. He taught me how to tie a dry fly to a tapered leader. I caught my first trout, a ten-inch brown, when I was about 12. And so began a span of 72 years of fly fishing, almost entirely for trout.
I began fly tying when I was nineteen. A friend of my grandfather, Henny Stafford of my home-town Lonaconing, Maryland, taught me how to tie a #12 gray hackle peacock body dry fly, and I’ve been “hooked” ever since. It’s been a wonderful life! I am so blessed!
I’ve learned how to tie a lot of different flies over the years, but one of my favorite dry flies has been the parachute Adams tied with a white calf tail post. I could see it more easily on the water, and I had a lot of good luck with it. It didn’t hold up well though and often fell over on its side in a riffle or just plain came apart after multiple fish. But then one day foam came into my life. I was astounded how much better flies tied with foam floated and how effective they were. But the first foam wasn’t very sturdy and often tore apart when you caught a trout with a fly tied with it. But it was easy to tie with, and I loved the advantages. Then closed-cell foam was invented and marketed and really revolutionized dry flies. My flies improved so much more in durability, floatability, and effectiveness. So I’ve used all of this technology to update my favorite dry fly, the foam-post, foam-body, parachute dry fly. I’ve given away well over a hundred of these to angling family and friends. I’ve gotten great reports from many of them.
At our Advanced Meeting on August 21, I plan to teach all of you this wonderful fly technique. I’ll provide all of the materials. The tools you need to bring are hackle pliers, a half-hitch tool, a hair stacker, a vise, scissors, and a bobbin. (You can tie it without the hair stacker, but I find it much easier if I use it.) I hope you have fun and have great fishing success with this pattern.
Our Advanced Fly Tying gathering will be on August 21 at 7:00 p.m. We will meet in Room 109 at Trinity Church. We will have a Zoom connection for those who prefer to join us virtually.
Interested? We would love for you to join us.
— Ken Grandstaff
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