Soft Hackles in High Lakes?

[Matt B]

The heads may be a tad big. It's interesting looking at them in person, they don't seem too big, but then i really see it in the picture .
Will do some more variations as well.View attachment 38313

Look good to me. The little red head is like a not too bright hot spot.

 

[mcswny]

I like going soft hackles PTs and such on a jig hook for alpine lakes.

Hey Travis, how come jig hooks? are you weighting them a lot?
I know you kill it (errr, your kid kills it ) on the Alpine lakes up in the Trinity Alps!

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

The heads may be a tad big. It's interesting looking at them in person, they don't seem too big, but then i really see it in the picture .
Will do some more variations as well.View attachment 38313

If you want just a little bit of weight, as an option you can throw a red glass bead on a few in lieu of the red thread head. The olive soft hackles w/ a red glass bead look like a bit like an olive willy - which is one of my favorite still water patterns.
I really dig the PT soft hackles with a red glass bead head.

 

[John Svahn]

I don't have photos but I ties the bead as the thorax if I am gonna use a bead. Not sure what the fish think, but I think they think the bead looks like an air bubble. Also it helps keep the hackle from sitting too close to the body while the fly is swinging.

 

[mcswny]

body while the fly is swinging.

I may be ignorant, but how are you swinging a high lake?

 

[John Svahn]

I use the same soft hackles for river and lake and was making a mishmash of a post. That said, although it wasn't what I was initially thinking of, I do swing soft hackles in lakes all the time. Not sure about the high Cascade Lakes, but in the Sierra where I fish, swinging soft hackles across a seam line in the daily afternoon breeze is THE way I catch fish. A down and across the seam line from a shore casting spot with either an upwind or downwind mend (depending on the strength of the wind) is $$$$$

 

[mcswny]

swinging soft hackles across a seam line in the daily afternoon breeze is THE way I catch fish. A down and across the seam line from a shore casting spot with either an upwind or downwind mend (depending on the strength of the wind) is $$$$$

ohh that sounds fun

 

[Travis Bille]

Hey Travis, how come jig hooks? are you weighting them a lot?
I know you kill it (errr, your kid kills it ) on the Alpine lakes up in the Trinity Alps!

I just love the action on them. I've been fishing the lakes with my 3 wt and one of the OPST heads with the fastest sinking tip. One of the lakes I love has a really deep spot and dredging that with jig nymphs is really productive.

 

[mcswny]

I just love the action on them. I've been fishing the lakes with my 3 wt and one of the OPST heads with the fastest sinking tip. One of the lakes I love has a really deep spot and dredging that with jig nymphs is really productive.

Sounds cool. I really need to get down to your neck of the woods.

 

[Travis Bille]

Sounds cool. I really need to get down to your neck of the woods.

You had better hit me up when you do!

 

[mcswny]

One more while I have ya’ll.

What’s your favorite soft hackle hook? I just ran out of what I was using (some old tiemco hook).

 

[Brian Miller]

I may be ignorant, but how are you swinging a high lake?

In the early 1970s before I began "fly fishing", I read a book or article about using a light - ultralight spinning rig with flies and a casting float in alpine lakes. I wish I could find it again. It was a simple solution. The author recommended using a 1/8th ounce torpedo float; I prefer the translucent green, instead of the water filled bobber shown in this diagram from a book I have on using spinning gear with flies; Fish Don't Think.

IIRC it mentioned high sticking the moving water of inlets and outlets with a dry dropper rig using the line tension created by the current; something like this: (I never went fishless using this rig).

So besides wind currents and wet flies-emergers in the film, I can swing flies in the inlet outlet currents.

BTW, I once had the owner of the fly shop where I later bought my first fly outfit show up when I was fly fishing an alpine lake that had a lot of shoreline trees and brush. I had packed in a heavy 1st Gen U-Boat float tube with vulcanized truck tire upper and lower bladders. The 1st thing he said to me after "Hi Brian", was "You should have brought a spinning rod, casting float, and flies!"

I now bring a spinning reel and casting float, and a couple of trusted spoons and spinners, along with my fly rod & reel when I go to alpine lakes without my lightweight Backpacker Pro float tube.

 

[Brute]

Look good to me. The little red head is like a not too bright hot spot.

I’ve had luck with reddish-orange…closer to red

 

[Gary Knowels]

I forgot about the Carey and Six Pack as soft hackles. I also fish these patterns in larger sizes like an 8 or 10 but it seems like if I'm trying something on the bigger side in a high lake it's going to be a leech or bugger and less of a dragon/damsel type thing like a Carey. Maybe I just think of those as more lowland lake flies and forage but that's not necessarily always true come to think of it.

I have been successful in a few alpine lakes with six packs. I have found that the natural color is better than the yellow though. Size 14.