"Waterwalkers"

[sniperfreak223]

found some old orvis literature my grandfather left me, probably late 70's or early 80's, but found a pattern that was really interesting to me. They called it a "waterwalker", basically a hybrid between a hairwing standard hackle dry fly and a parachute, with upright divided deerhair wings with a hackle tied parachute style around the base of each wing, I immediately tied up a few, in "adams Wulff" garb(bark deerhair tail and wings, gray body and mixed brown/grizzly hackle), and when I dropped one on my desk, I was amazed...it's nearly impossible to make one land wrong, they always land perfectly upright! Even when dropped upside down, they bounce on the hairwing and upright themselves. They are a bit of a challenge to tie, but may be well worth your efforts to try. Can't wait to get mine on the water...

 

[afishinado]

I remember them! Here's the low-down:

http://www.flytyer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1486&Itemid=90

Try tying a Catskill fly with a little extra (dense) hackle and trim a "V" in the hackle with your scissors on the underside.

 

[pap-paw]

I have been tying and using these for quite a few years now. They work very well for me and I do catch a lot of fish on them. As you noted they are a chalange to tie and almost impossable on anything smaller than a size 14 hook. It seams to be easier to keep them floating than other fly styles at least for me.

 

[geoalex]

If I'm not mistaken, to tie these flies, it's a double parachute style fly. Where instead of the parachute being directly on the top of the hook shank, you have two posts that you palmer the hackle around?

 

[bam]

pretty cool and certainly look like they're high floaters. With the split wings, I'd imagine you could use hackle a size or two smaller than a standard parachute to keep the right profile

 

[RLeep2]

If its the same fly I'm thinking it is, it was popularized by a guy named Terry Hellekson back in the 70's and there is an exhaustive section on the fly, it's variations and tying instructions in Hellekson's late 70's book "Popular Fly Patterns" which is available used from Amazon for about the price of a 30 meter spool of Rio tippet material.

http://www.amazon.com/Popular-Fly-Patterns-Terry-Hellekson/dp/0879050659/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279661172&sr=1-2-spell