Softly Softly
The Partridge Parachute Emerger – or PPE for short – is a soft hackle dry fly, all limp and spindly
In the past couple of years, the acronym PPE has been banded about a lot to cover personal protective equipment of many types. Having worked in a laboratory all my career it was a very familiar to me, but never heard outside of work. Nowadays unfortunately, it’s common parlance. The fly above is also a PPE, but one for happier calmer times; the Partridge Parachute Emerger
I like soft hackle dry flies. So do fish. They are all limp and spindly, and in my humble opinion make a fly look a lot more like fish food than the stiff hackle barbs normally used to float a dry fly. Expensive shiny feathers look nice and are what we are accustomed to seeing on a dry fly. However, they really are not necessary to make a fly float; buoyant poly yarn does the job perfectly well.
I tie many of my dry flies with nothing more than an organza body and a folded back poly yarn wing. With a smear, and I do mean just a smear, of Gink on the wing fibres they float all day. It was one of these simple suggestions, a #16 OFFLY (Organza F Fly), that caught my largest brown trout from my local river at 27 inches or 70 centimeters.
However, sometimes it’s nice to tie and fish something more than a minimalist synthetic fly. My sensitivity to natural materials limits how many I can tie in a session, but generally two of three is OK without too much sneezing or tears. So, if I think a bit of soft feather enhances the look of a fly, I’ll give it a go for the odd pattern.
Nick Thomas
In my mind a hatching insect looks a bit like us trying to get out of a tight pair of waders without falling over. It’s the awkward transitional stage between walking in waders and without waders; the tugging, sliding, pulling, hopping and finally emerging angler.
The PPE is definitely one of my favourite emergers. The smooth organza ribbon body hangs below the surface while the long soft partridge fibres dimple the surface film. It’s an impression of something busting a gut trying to lever itself through the transition from one life stage to the next.
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