soft hackles

[Frank G. Swarner III 0]

Different weight hooks can help to fish the fly in different parts of the water column which is one reason to use dry fly hooks and wet fly hooks. Many times I fish soft hackles in the film on a dead drift dry fly style.

 

Other times I want to swing a soft hackle an inch or two right below the surface so a lighter hook will help keep the fly from sinking too much.

 

I'll fish soft hackles as I would nymphs too. Drift it right along the bottom and at the end of the drift, a leisinring lift to imitate the bug making its way to the surface. WHAM!!

 

Frank

[KevCompton 0]

A couple of steelhead soft-hackles and a bead thorax soft-hackle: THe French Partridge Egg, Siman Brush Soft Hackle, and Fool's Gold:

 

 

 

[Soft-hackle 0]

flykid,

as already stated, soft-hackles can be tied on hooks depending upon how they will be fished. Many tie them on dry fly hooks; others on wet fly hooks. I use hooks also depending upon what I want to imitate. Most of the time I select Mustad 3399A because they are "standard" wire not heavy wire like Mustad 3906. This helps me in that I can use the fly in the film or subsurface as well.

 

Dave Hughes prefers 2X stout for his flymphs, but uses both wet and dry hooks for his soft-hackles. My friend Johan Klingberg uses Partridge Flash Point for flymphs as well as some special dry fly hooks. I guess a lot depends upon who is dressing the fly. Another friend Donald Nicolson uses a variety of different wet and dry hooks in addition to some "specimen" hooks. Also there is variation in the eye set. Some prefer down-eye, others, straight eye. Vern Hidy tied many of his later flymphs on up eye hooks.

 

Befuddled? Choose the hook that you like for application and imitation.

 

Mark

 

PS- It's my understanding that many of the traditional North Country flies were tied on hooks with model perfect bends-much like modern dry fly hooks.

[magayanes-2 0]

hi , the PALLARETA, all seasons. http://www.gobages.com/montage/affiche_montage_88.html

does any one HEAR about it, or FISH in US this fly...??

thanks...!!

[VERN-O 0]

magayanes-2....that is a cool fly....do you have an english translation for that page??.....interesting body shape.....looks like it would be heavy, but I'm very intrquiged by this fly.

[magayanes-2 0]

hi VERN-O, so far this is all I got about this fly, I saw this pattern in many US books.

The first pix is one of my pallareta variations. The rest of the pix are from a different web-site, its from the

Spanish version of the Louis Carrere's book where he's talking about this fly.

The next technique is from a fly tyer to ''varnish'' the body of this fly.

Hope it helps, SORRY about the quality of the pix,and as soon I find something in English version, I'll let you know guys.

Cheers

Manel.

[KevCompton 0]

PS- It's my understanding that many of the traditional North Country flies were tied on hooks with model perfect bends-much like modern dry fly hooks.

Has anyone used these hooks by Alec Jackson to dress and fish soft-hackles? The only difference between them seems to be that the JSH has 1XF wire whereas JNC is standard wire. The odd hook sizes are interesting. Is there any benefit to this sizing? Is there any correlation to the traditional spider shank lengths? What about the straight eye?

 

 

 

[Soft-hackle 0]

Hi Kevin,

Those hooks look great and should work well for what they are intended. According to some research I've done spider hooks were/are comparatively short in the shank. I believe it is all a matter of choice.

 

Mark

[VERN-O 0]

Manel...very cool pics thanks a lot.

[KevCompton 0]

Hi Mark,

 

Both of those Alec Jackson soft-hackle hooks are 2XShort -- the description below each hook is hard to make out.

[Soft-hackle 0]

Yes,

those are both 2X short. The straight eye gives the illusion of a longer shank. Many prefer straight eyed hooks for these flies. Donald Nicolson has some great examples of various soft-hackles and spiders on his web site. Roger Fogg, A Handbook of North Country Trout Flies uses Aiken Specimen hooks Code 1234, Drennan Code 1532. He also mentions Partridge's wide gape trout hook Code A, Partridge sproat forged hook Code G3A, The Partridge Captain Hamilton International in smaller sizes and the Partridge Limerick hook Code J1A. Also included are Mustad 9479, 9578A, 3904, and wide gape 38943. Many of these hooks may not be available today. Checking with the manufacturer may help find hooks of similar design.

 

Here's Donald Nicolson's wonderful site: Don Nicolson

 

Also my soft-hackle site: Flymphs,Soft-hackles and Spiders

 

Mark

[VERN-O 0]

do I dare ask what the International Brotherhood of the Flymph is???

 

that Don Nicolson site is outstanding!!!!!!!!!

[Soft-hackle 0]

Vern-o,

The brotherhood was started years ago by Vern Hidy. It was and is a group of fly-fishermen and tiers dedicated to the "flymph", which is a term Hidy used for distinguishing Leisenring's and other wingless wets.

 

We have some great tiers/fishermen in our ranks from over the world including Jim Slattery, Johan Klingberg, Hans Weilenmann, Don Nicolson, Charlie Craven, Oliver Edwards, Clayne Baker and Ralph Graves to name just a few. There are many, many more. I am a proud member and creator of the IBOF logo.

 

For a look at our site, go here: IBOF

 

Mark

[VERN-O 0]

Mark,

Love the site, and a ton of info , thanks for the link. And I have the say the logo caught my eye right away....very well done. How many members? (I couldn't get the members page to open)

[Soft-hackle 0]

Vern-o,

The site is being updated by Jim Slattery, who keeps the site up. He's been working on it a little at a time. I'm sure he'll get all the pages up eventually. As to the number of members, I'm not sure myself, but there are many from everywhere. We've got members in Europe, The UK, and even Australia.

 

Mark