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SUPER SOFT HACKLES

© Louis Bignami

Soft Hackle flies are not as popular as they should be in this era of bead head nymphs, but soft hackles are perhaps the easiest fly of all to fish, and very effective in the right kind of water.

The key to these flies is the movement of the soft Grouse or Partridge hackle. I fish soft hackles with the same set up as I use when dry fly fishing, that is floating line and a 9-foot long leader with a 2-foot long tippet. This allows a quick change to dry flies if the fish start to feed on adults.

Caution: You often see surface at the beginning of the hatch, when the fish feed on emerging insects not adults. This is often the case for both caddis hatches and the Pale Morning Dun (PMD) summer mayfly. Caddis pupa are active swimmers during their accent to the surface and PMDs are active swimmers within a few inches of the surface.

To replicate these moves is easy. Pick the right water, and then use a tested method. The best water for soft hackles is a foot to four feet deep with a brisk current and a choppy surface. They are not as effective in slow deep pools. Cast across stream and up. Mend your line to achieve a drag free drift for as long as practical. During this phase the mixed currents near a choppy surface give movement to the hackles while the fly is drifting. At the end of the drag free drift, point your rod tip at the fly and "swing" it back to your side of the stream.

TIP: If you can fish from the deep or "awkward" side, not the beach, so that the fly swings over next to the bank where fish lurk.

Once the slack goes out of the line the soft hackle will rise and "swim" beneath the surface. This is how numerous insects hatch. Fish hitting a swimming fly on a tight line hook themselves and you will miss fewer strikes. So many feel this is the best way to introduce people to fly-fishing because drag free drifts are hard to learn, and setting the hook with too much slack on the water is not easy.

Start at the top of a run and work your way down stream taking a step down stream between each cast to systematically search all of the water. If you see working fish, cast to that area repeatedly. This is a trout version of the "steelhead swing". On larger water it's possible to fish dry flies up one side of the stream, cross over and work back with wets. Or you can work wets down until the hatch starts and fish dry flies back up. Neat!