tying

Paraloops

By Jeff Morgan

The paraloop style of hackle/wing has long been overshadowed by the more popular parachute style. But why? And how do you effectively construct a paraloop?

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araloops are not a new concept in fly tying. Emerging in the late 1970s as a fusion of the then-innovative parachute (see Parachute Adams) and Comparadun styles, the popularity of paraloops has long fluctuated between ice-cold and lukewarm in mainstream fly-fishing circles. Despite their marginal commercial success, small cadres of devotees keep reintroducing them.

When tied properly, the hackle barbs on a Paraloop pattern seem to explode from the top of the body in all directions, like a big koosh ball. This wing profile keeps the fly floating well in calm waters, while deviating significantly from the standard parallel-to-the-hook footprint of a parachute pattern. The paraloop hackle also creates an unobstructed view of the underside of the thorax and abdomen, accentuating the thin bodies of these flat-water patterns.

It does not hurt that when tied properly, paraloops are strikingly beautiful patterns.

How to Construct a Paraloop

The paraloop hackling method resembles the traditional parachute hackling, but with a twist. To create a paraloop-hackled fly, construct the rear of the pattern as you would any dry fly, then tie in a thin post of monofilament, floss, or Spiderwire. Tie in your hackles, dub the thorax, and then wrap the hackles up the post like any other parachute. Then pull the hackle post over the thorax, and tie down both the hackle stems and the post material.

Save plenty of room to tie down both the hackle and post. Leave twice the space you normally leave on a standard parachute; that should accommodate this thick-tie down point.

But Why?

But why go through the trouble of constructing a paraloop hackle instead of using a parachute hackle or trimmed standard hackle when these latter alternatives have the advantages of speed and convenience? Because the paraloop offers better floatation due to the hundreds of intact hackle fibers; these help displace the water better than a trimmed hackle or a sparse parachute hackle.

Traditionally, tiers applied the paraloop hackling style to dun mayfly patterns. Many soon branched out to use the technique on midge and mayfly emergers. The style also works great on full-body caddis/midge/attractor patterns in a wide range of sizes.

My personal favorite use for paraloops is on terrestrials like beetles and ants. I have even played around with a Renegade-style dry fly with both fore and aft paraloops, but moved away from them since my limited use of attractor dry flies usually occurs on very rough water where heavy standard or palmered hackles are required.

Tying Tips

Use Spiderwire instead of monofilament for your wingpost. Spiderwire has more "bite" and tends to lock the hackle in place better. It also can be more easily tied down without creating a big head.
Add a tiny drop of superglue to the base of the post and at the tie-down point to prevent the post from slipping out.
Use stiff, undersized saddle hackles for the hackle. Soft or oversized hackle will not support the fly pattern at the surface.
Don't limit yourself to a single color. Blended color combinations work great-black/grizzly, grizzly/brown, olive grizzly/brown, and white/dun all create excellent Paraloop wings. To mute one color more than the others, use two hackles of one kind and one of the other. The paraloop style will obscure the "lines" of this kind of hackling noticeably more than other hackling methods.
Don't be afraid of using a different thorax color. This style of tying really suits itself to the imitation of bi-colored emergers. While going lighter in the thorax is usually an effective way of matching most emergers, peacock thoraxes can also be deadly.
Pick up Ian Moutter's fine book, Tying Flies the Paraloop Way. I have yet to find a book on a tying method or class of fly patterns that remains engaging after the midpoint, however, this book is essential for really stressing the basics of the paraloop method as well as examining its potential. I only wish I discovered this book earlier.

You can easily create a pseudo-Paraloop by tying a dense forward hackle, trimming the bottom of the hackle, then wrapping dubbing in figure-8 style underneath the hackle to bunch it up. Of course, this technique creates a notably bulkier thorax than the formal paraloop method, which negates one of the prime advantages of the paraloop style.

As you will see in the following patterns, I have created paraloop versions of many of my own favorite patterns, such as the Queen Jane.

Experiment with converting your favorite standards--from Humpys to Bivisibles, from Adams to Griffiths Gnats--into Paraloops and you might join that underground Paraloop army!

New Patterns

Paraloop Queen Jane Emerger
Paraloop Fuzz Caddis
Paraloop Ant
Paraloop Callibaetis

Jeff Morgan has written many articles for Westfly, mostly on entomology and fly tying. He is the author of An Angler's Guide to the Oregon Cascades and Small Stream Fly Fishing. Jeff is currently a graduate student at Stanford University, where he is finishing his PhD in History.