Interested in your take

[Soft-hackle]

I found this information in another forum I frequent and am interested in your take on this info.

" Some of you l know will have knowledge of the UK North country style of spider hackle. If not a brief intro here.

Spiders are typically flies tied very sparse, silk is often the body medium and in some cases natural animal fur dubbings.
Hackles were procured primarily from Game birds, songbirds and waders.

Soft hackles are of course generally defined as flies tied with a hackle that is not obtained from a rooster. This is not always the case as rooster hackle both for soft hackle and spiders should be considered.
The main difference is the hackle is not wound in the same way as you would for a dry fly, it is not there to enable a fly to float.
One and possibly 2 turns are used at a given angle to the fly body. ( I will deal with this later.)
Which l might add is also same for other soft hackles used depending on the nature of the fly.

I would hazard a guess here and say that at least 85% of soft hackles available via fly shops are tied with partridge hackle, which is of course ok, the problem is this hackle is not suited for use for many of the spider patterns that would be effective.
For example a partridge soft hackle is not what l would wish to use during a BWO hatch.
If the nature of the hatch was caddis it would be a good choice along with many other options of hackle taken from poultry and game birds of UK or US origin.

There for, there has to be a relationship for the fly used related to the species it is representing, which was the way of thought used by those who innovated flies of the past, and is the way l also evaluate this.
All be it l have fly patterns that l would determine as more generic in so far as they contain elements that attract fish.

To coin a phrase here, there is a difference between catching a fish by accident than one caught by design.

The smaller species of mayfly/baetis are delicate creatures, and a fly should in some way represent that.
Considerations are overall body color tone, thorax and sparse hackle of again a related color tone.
Small hook sizes and a given weight.

Typically l will use for such flies fine wire hooks. I do not wish for the fly to sink, it needs to ride just under the meniscus, be tumbled about at the mercy of natural water movement and look like one of the 4 primary stages.
Nymph, dun, drowned dun and spinner.

I will show tied examples in the near future.

Those of you who have watched the Wet Fly Ways DVD will often hear me refer to keeping in touch with your flies.
Which does not mean that there is a tension between you and the flies unless you are recovering the flies at a given pace toward you.
What l am saying here is this so far as dead drift is concerned.

You must allow for the flies to fish as close as possible to natural stream drift, but you also have to have contact in such a way as the smallest of indication that a fish has taken the fly will allow for you to set the hook, easier said than done until you have acquired the skills.

If your flies are fishing in the correct mode a fish should be able to take the fly and not feel any tension, therefore it will take it with confidence, and not try to eject it immediately it feels tension.

At any point in time you should know exactly where you flies are.And that can only happen if you make a perfect initial presentation.
A cast that brings the flies down in a jumbled mess is not going to work.
If you watch how l make my initial presentations you will note it is a very slow casting stroke, the flies will land in a straight line at the angle l chose to present them. I determine this by looking at the surface movement of the water downstream, before l make that choice.
I then determine how l will further allow for slack line to maintain a very long dead drift, which l can do for a great distance or one that l consider further would not be productive, or l lose control.

The ways to know if a fish has taken the flies are. You see movement from the fish, which may be a flash, a surface boil or change to the natural surface disturbance or the leader is seen to move. In all cases the hook is set.

If you wait for a pull you will miss the majority of fish that take your fly, when fishing dead drift techniques."

Let's hear it!
Mark

[Soft-hackle]

Good response, Mike. I was thinking a lot of the same thoughts as you when I read this. I don't like the term " Soft-hackles" really, either. I prefer " wingless wets ".

Mark

[Johnno]

I prefer "Soft Hackle mainly because I'm used to it I suppose. Anyway whats in a name? Not that important in the big scheme of things. As long as fish keep eating 'em