This is my favorite dry fly - it lands right, it floats good, I can see it, it's durable, and trout like it! I first saw the Hazel Creek pattern in a Wildlife in North Carolina magazine article about Southern Appalachian fly patterns. Roger Lowe from Waynesville is credited with inventing the pattern, and he created a poster of Southern Appalachian fly patterns for the magazine. He tied the original Hazel Creek pattern in the Catskill tradition with white hackle tips for wings, yellow poly yarn for the body, and a brown and grizzly hackle. Here is a link to an article about Roger in Carolina Sportsman: https://www.carolinasportsman.com/columns/head-for-the-mountains/patterns-always-changing/
I tweaked the pattern by dubbing the body with rabbit fur, tying it parachute-style using white polypro yarn for the post, brown hackle only, and using orange thread to add some attractor points for the head (I put in a couple of more turns of hackle than most people do on parachutes). It is my go-to attractor dry fly from late April through early October, and I have caught a bunch of fish on it.
Here is my YouTube video on how to tie the Parachute Hazel Creek:
I thought it would be cool to catch a trout in Hazel Creek on a Hazel Creek pattern, so I tied up several dozen for our trip back in 2012. I used it almost exclusively and got 14 new creeks and caught a whole bunch of trout (I switch to the bead-head hare's ear for two tiny tributaries during a hard rain). I also gave some Hazel Creeks to the other guys on the trip, and they used them on a trip out West later that summer and had a banner day - they had to call me that evening and tell me! Here is my YouTube video highlights of our Hazel Creek trip:
Finally, here are some random pictures of trout that fell victim to the parachute Hazel Creek:
