Tying Soft Hackle Flies

[Dave Westburg]

Here are some north country spiders. The black spider uses brown silk thread for the body and a starling hackle. The brown spiders use yellow silk thread for the body and brown hen hackle. The grey spiders use yellow silk thread for the body and a small grey hackle (I use California Quail).

 

[Dave Westburg]

The guy who started the soft hackle craze was WC Stewart who published Practical Angler in 1857...

 

[Merle]

Size 12, 14 and 16 is what you need. Olive, orange and yellow. I sometimes tie on a single strand of crystal flash under the partridge hackle. You can see it in the pic. I tried an experiment fishing three flies on the River Guar on the rannoch moor several years ago and the fish seemed to prefer the soft hackle with the flash.
View attachment 106192

Dave - what do you typically use for the body? Floss or a certain type of dubbing?

 

[Dave Westburg]

Mostly pearsalls silk for body. I bought a bunch of spools when they went out of business. Tied The orange and yellow and olive partridge hackles paul young style with a body consisting of a single thin strand on orange or yellow or olive unwool.

 

[Dave Westburg]

Syl Nemes recommended dubbing a shoulder on some soft hackles to make them look caddis like. I do this sometimes and also tie a soft hackle with a hares ear body or a peacock herl body...

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

Not necessarily a soft hackles, but during a Caddis emergence, it's hard to beat swinging a LaFontaine sparkle pupa.

 

[Cliff]

Wow, a LOT more info. I can't begin to say thank you enough, I appreciate and value your advice and suggestions.
Cliff

 

[Zak]

"Wet Flies - Rediscovered - Fly Angler's OnLine Volumn 10 week 3

The Premiere OnLine Magazine's Section for Fly Fishing Memorabilia.

www.flyanglersonline.com

 

[Zak]

 

[Tom Butler]

Less is more with the hackle. Pick up a copy of Dave Hughes Wet Flies

View attachment 106177

About 15 years ago that book changed my whole fishing world (and Western Hatches). I was fishing dries or the latest and the greatest in magazines before I found them. There is just something about a soft hackle wet fly. When it's warm that partridge and orange is great, but year round I like a soft hackle hares ear. I have some unweighted with brown partridge or wood duck tails, yellow thread and rib (march browns) for when mayflies are about. The fly I currently fish most has evolved since I found that book. ScottP has me layering hackles now. Here partridge and grouse, but marked hen is good too.

I started fishing these soft hackle diving caddis last year and they were really good in 12 and 14.

 

[Cliff]

"Wet Flies - Rediscovered - Fly Angler's OnLine Volumn 10 week 3

The Premiere OnLine Magazine's Section for Fly Fishing Memorabilia.

www.flyanglersonline.com

Great article! I miss flyanglers online.

 

[Tim Cottage]

It is not possible to have too many soft hackles. I tye a few standards but mostly make them up as I go along predominantly using pearsall's and game bird feathers from Golden Plover to Starling and every thing in between. One of my favorite feathers is the rusty brown from a Bob White Quail. I often put a collar on them to keep the umbrella shaped hackle pulsing in moving water.

My box is getting sparse. I better get busy.

 

[Draketake]

@Cliff,

If you dont know this, you can still look up all those great patterns and info for FlyAnglers Online. At least I could last Fall.

Terrible shame when there stopped being an active Fly Anglers Online.

I still go back for a lot of their Bass Patterns.

Nothing much more fun than a grab on a swung fly.

Happy Sunday.

Bob

 

[Kfish]

Fishing soft hackles is a lot of fun. It's my go to kind of fly at alpine lakes on our family hikes, and also when the lake fish are being picky. Add a tungsten bead and it's a deadly nymph in the rivers.

 

[Guy Gregory]

Soft hackles, flymphs, wet flies without wings, sunken dries....Love 'em. I won a box of wonderful ties in a raffle at nwexpo this last weekend, and was lucky enough to sit down with the tyer William Lovelace, aka Roadkill on flymphforum.com. These are a great genre of flys, easy to tie, comfy to fish, buggy as hell, and very very attractive to the object of our desire.

 

[Westfly Refugee]

While we're on the topic of soft hackles, I came across this Pearsall's Silk Color Chart (wet & dry)....the unique thing about this chart is it shows the colors wrapped on hooks both dry silk and wet, the color change when wet is really significant

Pearsall's Silks Color Chart (Wet-Dry Hooks).pdf | Powered by Box

app.box.com

 

[Zak]

While we're on the topic of soft hackles, I came across this Pearsall's Silk Color Chart (wet & dry)....the unique thing about this chart is it shows the colors wrapped on hooks both dry silk and wet, the color change when wet is really significant

Pearsall's Silks Color Chart (Wet-Dry Hooks).pdf | Powered by Box

app.box.com

I bought some black cobbler's wax and was waxing primrose yellow with it for Greenwells Glory wet flies. Made a nice translucent green/dun. Kind of a PITA to do, but it's fun trying out traditional methods on these traditional flies.

 

[Zak]

I recommend you get a starling skin and try tying some starling and herls. If you make a waist in the herl body, it's a drowned ant

 

[Cliff]

@Cliff,

If you dont know this, you can still look up all those great patterns and info for FlyAnglers Online. At least I could last Fall.

Terrible shame when there stopped being an active Fly Anglers Online.

I still go back for a lot of their Bass Patterns.

Nothing much more fun than a grab on a swung fly.

Happy Sunday.

Bob

Thanks for the tip.

 

[FinLuver]

While we're on the topic of soft hackles, I came across this Pearsall's Silk Color Chart (wet & dry)....the unique thing about this chart is it shows the colors wrapped on hooks both dry silk and wet, the color change when wet is really significant

Pearsall's Silks Color Chart (Wet-Dry Hooks).pdf | Powered by Box

app.box.com

Does it take into consideration the color of the tying thread underneath?