Swingling soft hackles

[mcswny]

So for the most part I’ve never swung soft hackles for trout. I did one time while I was wading back to camp after a long day and it quickly opened my eyes. There really hasn’t been a reason why I haven’t, I just havent.

Well this week that kinda changed and I’m pretty excited. So I was out in the national forest cutting firewood for the pizza oven/fire place. I had brought my 3 wt glass rod in case I had enough time before I had to get home for school pickup. I ended up having about 2 hours and went to a run I fished almost daily when I lived 10 minutes away. I fished maybe a 1/2 mile upstream with various dries with no eats. Normally you can catch a dozen 4-8” fish in this zone, but it was low, clear and about noon so I wasn’t expecting much. On the way down, I said fuck it and I’ll try to swing a soft hackle. Man was that fun. I ended up catching problem 18 fish in the 30 minutes it took me to get down. I would see the fish turn and swim 15 feet after my fly. Will I turn exclusively to swinging wets? Probably not. But it’s great to have another tool in the box. I think my copy of Dave Hughes Wet Flies comes tomorrow

 

[Zak]

My favorite type of day fishing trip is fishing a small river upstream with a dry fly, then swinging wets on the way back down.

 

[SKYKO]

I'm pretty certain you fish the lower D quite a bit, at times soft hackles will be absolutely lights out, the size of redside that will eat them can be surprising and the grabs shocking on the swing. Also great off a dry.

 

[Tom Butler]

That sounds so familiar. Great post. I like the fly. Hope you enjoy that book as much as I do.

 

[Mossback]

I used to fish a Partridge and Orange when I lived on the Middle Fork. Was an easy way to beat up on those trout.
In larger sizes, fished where theres other fish besides resident trout around it can be very effective also.

 

[clarkman]

Nice work....and nice fly!

I wonder how the trout tomorrow are gonna feel about a swung October caddis pupa with a trailing egg fly...

 

[jact55]

Nice. I've tied a few softs, but never put them to work. I have a week off early October, was going to give it my first go. This gives me confidence.

 

[Divad]

Nice. I've tied a few softs, but never put them to work. I have a week off early October, was going to give it my first go. This gives me confidence.

A tight line swung soft hackle will quickly become a drug you cannot get enough of.

 

[Mossback]

In a BWO hatch, a sz 18-20 soft hackle in the appropriate color can be a game changer...especially if you have less than optimal vision.

 

[jact55]

A tight line swung soft hackle will quickly become a drug you cannot get enough of.

Been there done that with other drugs. Maybe I should steer clear hahaha

 

[Scslat]

I once caught more than a dozen fish out of a single run using soft hackles and simply changing the color of the body on each pass through the run. Orange, green, red, yellow, pheasant tail, all tied with partridge, one after the other. Each time catching another 2 or three fish. After that, a Partridge-and-X became one of my go-to patterns.

 

[kmudgn]

I drop a soft hackle behind a dry and let it float down with the dry as the means to get movement. My preferred soft hackle is a partridge and purple instead of the orange

 

[Brian Miller]

I do a lot of wet fly fishing with both western and Japanese fixed line rods. For small to mid-size streams, fly manipulation - movement techniques that I cannot duplicate with western fly rods because they are stiffer to cast a fly line help make quartering upstream or downstream long reach tight line wet fly presentations with Tenkara quite effective. The flexible tip makes the tug from even small fish addictive. The leverage and backbone of the long rod combining as power to control fish for bringing them to the net is amazing.

 

[Hoofer]

I'm pretty certain you fish the lower D quite a bit, at times soft hackles will be absolutely lights out, the size of redside that will eat them can be surprising and the grabs shocking on the swing. Also great off a dry.

In the big caddis hatches that seem to peak about 4th of July, right at dark the pupae are swimming up and the egg layers are diving down, all at the same time. I’ve read somewhere that the egg layers target broken water as easier to dive into, and it can be tricky to get a clean swing in faster water, but it seems like trout will load up and blitz the prime slots when it’s really on. Pretty fantastic…

 

[mcswny]

I'm pretty certain you fish the lower D quite a bit, at times soft hackles will be absolutely lights out, the size of redside that will eat them can be surprising and the grabs shocking on the swing. Also great off a dry.

I do! Thanks for the tip.

 

[mcswny]

Nice work....and nice fly!

I wonder how the trout tomorrow are gonna feel about a swung October caddis pupa with a trailing egg fly...

It’s been a minute since I’ve been to the D. Was on the John Day this past weekend. I need to refill my egg box for the best hatch of the season.