Soft Hackles

I have never really fished any soft hackle flies before. I guess a nymph or midge has been my go to fly and I have never really had to resort to fishing a wet fly/soft hackle/flymph. But, after talking to my buddy in Oregon I hear that soft hackles on the swing are the best fly to use - especially for hungry cutthroats and in early summer/late fall.

So, I have to start tying them tonight (not bad, a week before I am leaving) - and to be honest with you, I have no clue how to tie one. Sure I've tied some soft hackles on my possie buggers, but I wouldn't call them nicely tied by any means.

I have been poking around the web lately - and specifically today - and found a few really nice patterns. Check these out below. I will be tying some of these tonight.

The Flymph


I have posted this pattern before on my site - just never got around to tying it. I like the color and the bugginess (if that is a word). Plus, I don't think it is too difficult to tie.

March Brown Soft Hackle

Easy tie - and the March Browns are popping right now in OR!

Soft Hackle Hare's Ear

Quincy Soft Hackle


These are just a few that caught my eye - I will be tying a bunch in the next few days - I will post some pics of what I have tied up.

The Lightning Bug - FOTD

I just saw this fly over at Reno Trout Envy, it is the Lightning Bug - nothing too fancy, but very flashy and easy to tie (not to mention the photo is excellent as well).



I have tied a few of these and they do kind of look like the rainbow warrior, and they do work - especially in off color water. You can tie these even smaller - all the way down to size 24 as my buddy Darren does - with a sort of purple tinsel that is only a mm wide. This tinsel needs to be glued down to hold it in place and because it can be brittle when trying to pry it out of a fishes mouth with forceps.

These flash/tinsel flies are easy to tie, can be tied all the way up to a size 10 or so and the colors can be any color you can dream of (just look at some of the colors Brian used in his fly box.

This is a great, easy to tie fly that produces. Thanks Brian for another great fly!!