Whiskey Creek Fly Fishing

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The starling and herl soft hackle fly pattern is one of my favorites. For fly fishing with soft hackles, my favorites usually involve peacock herl of some sort.
The starling feathers are usually small, and work well on flies size 14 and smaller. Other feathers may be substituted like partridge, hen, and quail.
Peacock herl is fragile, [...]

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This demonstration is for a green and partridge. With this one, I added a wire rib for more durability and a hare’s ear thorax which improves the action of the soft hackle.
The previous fly, a yellow and partridge, has a benefit of being a very simple and easy fly to tie. Adding a rib to [...]

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Winona Fly Factory asked some great questions about using Pheasant feathers for soft hackles. I don’t have a lot of experience with using pheasant for hackling, I forgot there are other parts of the bird besides the tails.
Here are 3 soft hackle flies tied with body feathers of the pheasant. I don’t have any pheasant [...]

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Lets start with the hackles, where these fly patterns get their name. Most soft hackles are tied with game bird skins, like partridge, pheasant, quail, or starling. The individual fibers of these feathers are much more flexible and “bendy” than rooster hackles. This allows the soft hackles to move while being fish.  Many believe the [...]

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Lets start the soft hackle class with a fly. Here is a demonstration of the Partridge and Yellow soft hackle, one of the most simple fly patterns you can tie. This uses just 2 materials, yellow silk and a partridge feather.

If you don’t have silk thread, use regular thread.  I like Ultra Thread, but any [...]

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This is the first of a series of postings that will show how I tie soft hackle flies. The series kicks off with a few photos and description of tying materials. Soon, there will be videos of tying demonstrations, starting with the simplest of soft hackles, the partridge and yellow.
Why soft hackles?
Soft hackle flies are [...]

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Here is a video of tying a modified X Caddis fly. This is based on the X Caddis pattern from Blue Ribbon Flies, adding a palmered hackle.

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Similar to Madonna, Pele and Lefty – where 1 name is enough – saying just a direction and an eating utensil is enough to invoke visions of great fishing.  The South Fork of the Snake is an outstanding fly fishing river.
In early October, I fished the South Fork for the first time. A smart move [...]

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On a recent trip to Yellowstone, I caught more fish with a soft hackle than any other pattern. The most successful of the soft hackles was any that had a peacock herl body, and appropriately sized soft hackle. Here is an example, the Starling and Herl.

Hook: (use any standard dry or wet fly hook)
Add a [...]

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