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[RalphH]

The Adams



The Adams was once known as the most popular dry fly in North America and may still be today. It has been around in pretty much the same form for close to 100 years. While thought of as a general mayfly imitation is was first tied to imitate a small fluttering caddis species common in North Michigan.

The Adams has proven effective both on still and moving waters. It generally imitates virtually all greyish to dark mayflies provided the size of the hatch is matched correctly!

Like most well established patterns it has been varied by many tiers. There is a Female Adams where the back ¼ of the body uses yellow dubbing to imitate an ‘egg sack’. There is also an olive body version.

The variation here uses moose body hair in place of the original tail of mixed grizzly and brown hackle. The splayed moose hair improves the way the fly floats and is a closer imitation of mayfly tails.

Often dry flies with full hackles will not properly balance on the water but will flop to one side. A common fix is to  clip the bottom hackle either all but flush with the body or just a careful V cut directly below the wings. Either makes it far more likely your fly will float straight up on the surface as it should.

Another important variation is the Parachute Adams.

Parachute Adams:



Hook:  as above
Butt: as above
Body: as above
Wing Post: Calf tail or polyprolene or similar synthetic
Hackle: grizzly wound around post.

Parachute style patterns solve the issues of traditional full hackles; they float straight up and they present a clearer profile as seen by the trout since the wing and body are less obscured by the hackle. It does a good job of suggesting a resting emerger dun or an emerger in the surface film

It also floats surprisingly well on moving water. The amount of hackle can be varied from one or 2 turns for still or flat water to 4 or so for choppy riffles.

The post can also be clipped off just above the post to make the fly look more like an emerger or cripple.

[RalphH]

Parachute Adams with the wing post clipped:

[clarki]

Does the "parachute" serve as an indicator, or buoyancy, or both?

[RalphH]

In the standard parachute style pattern it imitates a wing. It can be tied in a bright color and act as an indicator in the sense you can see where the fly is. It still has to be fished properly and the angler has to react correctly to a rise.

[RalphH]

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