Earlier this year, I was fishing during a very nice BWO hatch. The bugs were covering the water, it seemed like there were 20-30 flies per square foot on the water.  The fish were going nuts on this bountiful hatch. However, I was having a tough time fishing. I couldn’t tell which fly was mine, it was lost in the crowd of naturals. Even if I could make out my fly amongst the masses, why would a trout choose mine over all the others?  I thought of the “un-match the hatch” strategy, but instead tied on a soft hackle BWO fly, like Richard’s BWO Flymph, and let it swing.

Since the fly was on a tight line swing, I didn’t need to worry about seeing it, I could feel the fish (use the force, Luke). I started picking up fish with this strategy.  Give it a try.

Strolis’ BWO Flymph from Richard Strolis on Vimeo.

This was a very famous, and secretive, pattern in the early 1900’s in England. The recipe was a closely guarded secret, and the tiers held a monopoly on the key material (thorax).   Like many old-timey patterns, the material is rather specific and funny.

The secret thorax was tied with urine and red dyed wool, taken from a ram’s testicle. Apparently, the originators were also ranchers, and would have a sponge tied to the “working parts” of the male sheep. The sponge was soaked with red dye. In the morning, the ewe’s that had been visited (or tupped) by the rams were marked.

Now, its not easy for us to obtain wool taken from a rams nether regions, so a substitute is necessary (see the tying notes).  Fly Angler’s Online has a great series of articles called “just old flies and stuff”.

Tups Indispensible

Tups Indispensable

• Hook: Standard fly hook, wet or dry, depending on your preference
• Tail: Blue dun hen hackle fibers
• Body: Yellow Floss
• Thorax: Urine & dye stained wool from a Ram’s testicle (or pink rabbit)
• Hackle: Blue dun hen

Tying tips:

• www.feather-craft.com sells angora goat hair dyed in the “Tups” color
• You can add a wire counter-wrapped rib for durability. The floss comes apart after a couple of fish. Don’t worry too much, these still work even with hacked up bodies.
• The Weekly Fly has video of Sylvester Nemes, the master, tying the Tups.

This pattern contains the deadly 3-P’s: Pheasant Tail, Peacock, and Partridge. Through in a bead for good measure.

Orange PT Soft Hackle

Orange PT Soft Hackle

• Hook: Mustad 3906B,  12-18, with an appropriate bead
• Body: Pheasant Tail, dyed orange
• Rib: Hot Orange ultra-wire, size small or brassie
• Thorax: Peacock
• Hackle: Partridge Soft Hackle

Here is a video demonstration of this pattern.

Flashy Starling

Flashy Starling

• Hook: Standard Wet Fly hook, like Dai-Riki #070, size 16-22
• Body: Several strands of peacock Krystal Flash
• Rib: Small gold wire
• Hackle: Starling body feathers

A small thorax would work on this pattern also. The rib is almost mandatory to improve the durability, otherwise 1 or 2 fish will tear this apart. You can improve durability a bit more by applying a thin layer of cement to the hook shank prior to wrapping the Krystal Flash.

The Blue Wing Olive Soft Hackle Emerger will kick things off. I had a banner day on Henry’s Fork last fall with this pattern, as the photo attests. (this fly remnant was right where I left it last October, right on the cabin window sill).

BWO Soft Hackle Emerger

BWO Soft Hackle Emerger

• Hook: Size 18 Dry Fly (TMC 100, etc.)
• Body: Olive Biot
• Thorax: Clear Glass Bead & Olive dubbing
• Hackle: Brownish Partridge

Here is what it looks like before the fish:

BWO Soft Hackle Emerger (before fish)

Materials:
Hook: Size 14 Wet Fly (Mustad 9671)
Thread: White 6/0
Body: 4 white glass beads, size 11/0 (craft store)
Thorax: Sparkle Dubbing, polar bear color (from Blue Ribbon Flies)
Hackle: Partridge soft-hackle

Start with putting the beads on the hook.

Start the thread behind the beads and build a bump at the bend. (and trim the thread better than I did here)  After creating the bump, tie off the thread with a whip finish.

Add a drop of zap-a-gap to the thread bump, slide the beads backwards so they butt against the bump (and the rear bead gets a little zap-a-gap).  Then, restart the tread in front of the bead body.

Secure the hackle to the shank, then dub a shaggy thorax

After completing the dubbed thorax, wind the hackle 1.5 to 2 wraps.  Tie off and trim the hackle.

Complete the fly by sweeping the hackle backwards, form a head, whip finish, then cement.

Bead Body Caddis Pupa

Hook: Size 14, curved pupa hook
Thread: Light Olive, 8/0
Body: Glass “seed beads” size 11/0,  4 beads
Antenna: 2 wood duck fibers
Thorax/Legs: Grey Ostrich

Bead Thorax Soft Hackle

I was thinking PMD emerger when tying this one.

Hook: size 14 wet fly
Thread: Light Olive, 8/0
Tail: Pheasant Tail
Body: Pheasant Tail
Rib: Small wire, amber for this one
Thorax: Yellow glass “seed bead”, size 6/0
Soft Hackle: Partridge

Sally Midge

Hook: Size 14 Curved hook
Head: Green glass seed bead, size 11/0
Body: Light Olive Thread, 8/0
Overbody: Fine Monofiliment Thread
Over-over body: 3 coats of Sally Hansons Hard as Nails

Tan Para Hopper
Hook: 3x long, size 12
Parachute post: white poly yarn
Body: Tan antron/hare’s ear blend
Wing: Turkey Tail fibers
Legs: Pheasant Tail fibers, knotted
Parachute Hackle: Grizzly

This was the first time I tied these. Knotting the pheasant tail started out as a pain, trying all types of tools (hackle pliers, hemostats, bobbin threader, and latch hook). What ended up working well was just cutting the fibers from the stem and knotting them by hand (using the thick end).

Peacock Soft Hackle

Hook: Size 14 wet fly hook, 3mm bead, 6 wraps of lead
Body:  Peacock herl spun in a dubbing loop of red thread
Hackle: Partridge back feathers

PT Soft Hackle

Hook: Size 14 wet fly hook, 3mm bead, 6 wraps of lead
Body: Orange dyed pheasant tail, ribbed with small ultra wire in hot orange
Thorax:  Peacock
Hackle: Partridge

Cow Dung

I’ve always wanted to tie the Cow Dung ever since I saw the name in Mary Orvis’ book.  The classic fly swap is a perfect excuse.

Hook: Size 10 wet fly (Mustad 3906b)
Body: Green wool thread
Wing: Mallard wing
Hackle: Brown hen

Black Ant

Hook: Size 16, Mustad R50-94840
Body rear: Black Superfine dubbing
Wing: White Zelon
Hackle: Black
Body front: Black Superfine dubbing

Here are 3 soft hackle flies tied with body feathers of the pheasant. I don’t have any pheasant wings at the moment, but I bet there are some very useful feathers for soft hackles.

These flies are size 20, 16, and 10 (3x long streamer), with feathers taken from different parts of the bird. The neck feathers just above the band made a nice size 20 soft hackle. Just below the neck had some 14 & 16s. These are dark and iridescent, a good substitute for starling.

This photo shows the bird’s neck and approximate location of the size 20 and 16 feathers. No photo of the size 10 feathers, but I took them from the back, near the base of the tail.

The back portion of the bird has great looking hackle for steelhead flies.  Looks like a new project for me…

You may see packages of loose soft hackles in the fly shop. Avoid these.  These packages are the left overs after the best feathers have been used. The package may seem to be a bargin, but in the long run Its better to purchase the full skin, you get the best feathers and the skin itself stores the feathers sorted by size and color.

These packages are useful for providing legs on nymphs, and the very casual soft hackle tier.

Buy the skin.

Partridge is my favorite, each skin has tons of feathers, which are also useful for caddis dry fly wings (spent partridge pattern, for example).

Starling is another popular bird for creating soft hackles. The starling feathers are small, dark, and iridescent.  Very useful for tying down to size 20.

From the bottom, Hen backs are available and these are relatively inexpensive. They are available in a few colors and useful to tie larger sizes of soft hackle patterns (size 14 and larger, from my experience)

The top-most wing is a coot substitute. Several of the classic patterns call for coot feathers.

The wing in the middle is snipe substitute. The purple and snipe is a classic pattern.

Its not legal to sell coot and snipe skins, so the fly shops sell substitutes, bird parts that are similar, but legal.

Quail (on the left), and Ruffled Grouse are two other birds that are used. Pheasant call also be used.

These can be used instead of partridge, if you don’t have a partridge skin.

Sources

I like to always check my local fly shop first before ordering online. Its usually the same price. You can touch and feel the material. Compare several skins and choose the one that looks best to you, look at coloration and for tears and flaws in the skin (many of these are hunted, so shotguns and dogs are part of the processing).

Your local fly shop is an outstanding resource for tying materials, information, and supporters for fly fishing in your area. Give them business if you can.

My local fly shop, though, doesn’t stock many soft hackle materials, so I also shop online.  Most of the online fly tying merchants carry the most popular materials (hen backs, partridge, and maybe starling skins). Here are a few web sites that specialize in soft hackles these materials:

• Blue Ribbon Flies
• Great Feathers
• Jim’s Fly Company

If you have a favorite supplier, please leave a comment. I’ll update this list (and give them a little business).