First Trout On a Soft Hackle

[Fontinalis]

Hello everyone.

This past weekend I did manage with the Mrs. to get out and fish a few hours. The fly I tied was a true gold ribbed Hare's Ear that I turned into a flymph. I am starting out very simple and just trying to see what this soft Hackle and Flymph wet flies are all about. The fly started out being tyed as a gold ribbed Hare's Ear Nymph, all that I did to the pattern was to build the thorax a little heavier with dubbing, omitt the wing case and in flymph style used Honey Dun Hen Cape through the thorax to the head about three turns. The fly was a size 8 and I called the fly the Honey Bunny. The fly came out looking good and buggy. I will post a pic later of the fly I am talking about for all to see. Now the Mrs. and I fished for three hours. I managed to catch 6 beautiful Brown Trout on this fly, had two long distance Releases and had numerous strikes. I never changed the fly and was amazed how the fish were liking this simple but very effective pattern. This was my first outing using nothing but soft Hackles/ Flymphs. I had no intension that night of fishing no other sytle of fly. I am glad I did. I truly had a successfull night. So now I am into tying a few more patterns and see how I do. I am glad that I made up my mind to become an all around wet fly fishermen and can see why you guys of today love this style of fly so much. I now can appreciate this type of fly and it has intrigued me to really read Liesenring again. I am truly getting into this and plan down the road to feature soft Hackles wet flies in my Catskill Fly Tying Club news letter called the Gazette. I will have a lot more questions on tying and such and look forward to corresponding with everyone. I am glad I found this site.

Sincerely
Andy Brasko

[Old Hat]

I don't think you could have chosen a better flymph to "start" out with Andy. Sounds like you had a great time. I find the "swollen thorax" profile and palmered hackle to be a productive profile especially on the larger size flies. I also will darken the dubbing in thorax as well. Can't wait to see a picture. Glad to hear you had a fruitful day on the water. Thanks for sharing your outing with us.

Carl

[Klaas]

Nice report Andy.

Buggy flies that hold some airbubbles work great,you dont need "expensive or exotic"materials to tie some good flies.
Patterns you design yourself and when they catch fish is a good pattern .
Good to hear you like a new style of flyfishing.

Klaas

[letumgo]

Congratulations on your success Andy! Your Honey Bunny pattern sounds like a terrific pattern. I'd love to see a picture of your fly, so I can replicate it.

[Soft-hackle]

Way to go, Andy! You are hooked, believe me. I was out Sunday morning but haven't "processed" the photos, yet. Caught and released 10 fairly nice fish, lost almost half as many more. The flies of the day were my Little Olive Flymph and Li'l Dorothy. When I get the photos uploaded, I'll post them. No fish porn, but some nice shots of my home water. No River Monsters, either!

Mark

[tie2fish]

Great story, Andy, and well told. These tyes are addictive, not just to the folks who dress them, but to the fish as well. Welcome to the ranks! - Bill

[Fontinalis]

Hi every one:

I am posting the Honey Bunny in the Tying section where all pictures of flies are found.

Sincerely
Andy Brasko

[William Anderson]

Andy, I never intended to evolve into a wet-only fly-fisherman, but it seems that about 90% of my fishing is done with a soft-hackle or flymph of some kind. Mostly because if a nymph seems the most appropriate selection, I have a softhackle that fits the bill, sometime it needs some extra weight to get it down, or I tie some with the extra weight. More often though I find the soft-hackle the easiest fly to meet the fish in their layer. When they are hitting on top or sipping in the surface, there is nothing better, IMHO than a SH or flymph trapped in the surface film to induce a strike, as long as it has the right profile and movement, because they get such a close look at the fly as opposed to a dry that floats very high...although most dries are not much higher than my flies. And there is definitely not a better emerger pattern than a well matched flymph. I'm rambling, but welcome to a group that seems to be in the know...even though we seem to be in the minority. I've been hooked for years. It's fun.

Nice pattern selection. I'll post a Hare's Ear Flymph in the tying section as well just for grins. I would love to see a compilation of everyone's Hare's Ear SH in one thread for comparison. It's such an invaluable fly.

Congrats on the success. There is nothing more convincing in a fly or method than wild success. Nice post.

w

[GlassJet]

I would love to see a compilation of everyone's Hare's Ear SH in one thread for comparison. It's such an invaluable fly.

That would be really interesting! I fish that sort of fly a lot and I'd put one of mine into a thread, if anyone's game?

Andrew.

[William Anderson]

Check the fly dressing section.