Any Soft Hackle lovers on here?

[OldTroller]

I am trying to figure out soft hackles and I can scrounge up a couple hits here and there but I remember have really good days years ago when I was a river man.

What am I doing wrong?

I have tried the syls midge, black spyder, and other ones. Please help if you can.
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[flygoddess]

Hate em' Never use them![]

Less is more on the hackle.
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[gofish435]

I started using soft hackles six years ago on flat water. I have never tried them on stream fishing. Next to a leech and wooly bugger they are my most reliable fly on lakes and reservoirs for me. I tie mine on 1x long hooks in sizes 6-10. I use either variegated chenille or speckled chenille for the body with a short marabou tail to match one of the body colors and just a couple of wraps of dle hackle in various dyed colors, again to match the body colors. I like to use hackle that is long enough to reach the end of the hook so you get good breathable motion out of hackle. I fish it the same as I do buggers and leeches, near the bottom. If you want more info just PM me, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. Good luck![]
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[flygoddess]

I am thinking Old Troller is talking more about NYMPH size softhackles like Sly Nemes uses, but I could be wrong. These are very effective on moving water as well as still.
[url "http://www.mwflytying.com/patterns/soft_hackle.html"]http://www.mwflytying.com/patterns/soft_hackle.html[/url]

I like the larger size on Stillwater too, but I go with more the Jack Gartside style. Also on my Bunny leeches.
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[HFT]

I have been soft hackling nymph patterns.in size 18 and 16 for years now. zebra midges, brassies, sows are some of my favorite. Brahma hen capes work well for that small.
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[pookiebar]

+1 on what FG said. Less is more. I usually wrap the soft hackle 2 times around the head of the fly. I have used anything from duck breast feathers, pheasant dle, grouse or partridge dle, and grizzly hackles to get the effect I want.
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[OldTroller]

Thanks a bunch to everyone. I am going to give soft hackles another try.
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[Joe_Dizzy]

My initiation into the world of wets, soft hackles, flymphs, etc. came several years ago in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where this style of fishing is sacred and the ghosts of Jim Leisenring and Pete Hidy still stalk the stream sides. Long-story-short I became friends with one of the "old guard" Pocono guys that taught me the ways of angling with - and tying this particular style of flies. I was hooked immediately and I'm a much better angler today because of it. Keeping it as simple as can be, outside of obvious Baetis activity, I fish a size 14 most of the time… good start would be a Partridge & <insert color here> (yellow, orange, green… in that order), or Diving Caddis when egg-laying occurs. I fish them on the middle/lower Provo and Weber Rivers all the time during the summer and they are my first option out of the gate. Fish them down and across and mend the line constantly as the fly starts to swing across the current. Strikes are pretty aggressive (you WILL feel the take) so watch your tippet and rod position.

My guess is that that you will experience some of the most enjoyable fishing of your life while experimenting with these flies, especially during caddis activity. A couple of really good sources can help greatly along the way as well;

-1) The Art of Tying the Wet Fly & Fishing the Flymph (Leisenring/Hidy) is basically The Holy Bible of wet flies in the United States. The book is short on fishing technique, but quite a vivid look inside the mind of Leisenring. A soft hackle looks like a real mess from far away, but a lot of detailed research, experimentation, and technique goes into the preparation and tying of these flies.

-2) Wet Flies (Hughes) is in my opinion the best book on the subject. It pains me to say this (being from PA), but if I were to recommend/own ONE (1) book on the subject, this would be it. Great detail on the tying techniques, fishing techniques, and of course Dave Hughes' signature style of writing and actually naming the insects that he imitates with these flies.

-3) "Google" up the name Mark Libertone. Perhaps because he's not a published author, but Mark gets virtually no credit on a national level (like these other guys), but his contributions are enormous. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Diving Caddis pattern is his original (along with several others). Unfortunately Mark lost his long time battle with cancer last fall. Hopefully his websites and fly patterns will continue and carry-on his legacy. The Lil' Baetis pattern that I tie for the blue-winged olives is modeled after Mark's Lil' Dorothy pattern that he created for fishing the small Sulphurs back east (killer).

-4) Jim Slattery (Jim's Fly Co., West Yellowstone, MT) is a name you may be familiar with… not everyone knows it, but Jim's originally from NJ and was (is) a tremendously-respected member of the wet fly/flymphing gang from back east. My Old Guard friend once told me that Jim Slattery is the only guy on earth that he trusts to sell him a wet fly hackle without holding in his own hands first! And that's quite a compliment because the guys that really ties these flies the best consider themselves artists and they are bonkers about the hackle they purchase.

Hope this helps… and tight lines! []
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[flygoddess]

The Leisenring Lift!

[url "http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/flymphs/"]http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/flymphs/[/url]


I like Orange as a first choice, but Grey, and Olive do a great job too.
This is one of my creations ( note: the hackle is a tad thicker than I normally use-less is more)


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[OldTroller]

Great info thanks a ton I was online for two hours reading about those guys you listed.

FWIW I caught 4 on soft hackle Saturday. I don't know the name but it looked like a zebra midge with soft hackle.
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[Joe_Dizzy]

[quote flygoddess]

[url "http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/flymphs/"]http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/flymphs/[/url]

[url "http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/FlyGoddess/Flies/NorthernLights12.jpg[/img][/quote]"][/quote][/url]

Great find FG! (good looking pattern there as well) []

Probably should have mentioned that soft hackle flies tied on light wire hooks are extremely effective during hatch activity too (especially on the larger fish which often key on emergers).
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[Browntrout]

Very nice tie. What type of hackle did you use for this fly?
What color and type hackle would you use for the orange?

Thanks.
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[flygoddess]

Thank you. I use a few different feathers. For tiny fly I like the Starling. The 14 to 18's I will use Partridge (and always better to buy the Cape rather than the baggie of feathers) I LOVE the looks of CDL, but on this one and the orange I use these Hen Capes I bought from Orvis. (Yup I'm an Orvis dork..LOL)


This one is the CDL



Troller, Check out Rickard's A.P. Emerger. A haresear softhackle of sorts. Olive and Black are killer

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[Browntrout]

Thank you flygoddess---Greatly appreciated.
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[gofish435]

I like your tie of the Rickards emerger pattern. It does look like a soft hackled hares ear. Thanks for sharing.[]
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[Joe_Dizzy]

Here are some patterns that I fish a lot, Mar-Oct...

Diving Caddis - killer "happy hour" (or first light) fly fished tight to the banks when caddis are egg-laying.


Partridge & Yellow - great caddis & mayfly imitation. When the PMD's are on you can fish this fly all day long. Kills following a hatch when the trout are still keyed up searching out cripples.


Starling & Herl - great fly when those mini-swarms of black caddis are dancing around on the water edges.


Lil' Baetis - best fly I've found for blue-winged olives (and early season midges). This fly cleans up on the lower Provo Mar/Apr.


Partridge & Orange - great early and late in the season... particularly if stoneflies are active (size 10-12).

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[OldTroller]

Sweet flies and I am getting the itch to go out again real bad. Maybe tomorrow?
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[Browntrout]

Excellent thread. Thanks for getting this started OldTroller.
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[mischievous]

I have no clue about Softies. That is why my tying drawers have Gadwald, dyed in many colors, Ring Neck, Woodies, Egyptian Goose, Huns, and much more.

Softies are good from size 26 in a BWO color scheme to a 2/0 in exotics for Steel. The key is the drift. I watch lots of folk do an upstream mend and leave it at that. NO!!! Throw an upstream mend followed by a down stream mend. Try to get the head of the fly facing downstream. It will swing on the dead drift. When it swings... WAMO!!!

Another cool way to fish a softie is to use them as a Euro Nymph. High stick em'.
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[STEVEF39]

Got my first fish on a soft hackle a couple days ago and they slammed it like a steamer!
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