I was introduced to oft hackle last year when a friend gave me a couple flyboxes he had been holding on for 15 years. There were some beautiful flies in the bunch but many had begun to come apart. I found a fly tied with brown thread and gold wire rib the whole length of the fly tied with wood duck flank or partridge soft hackle. The body was bulky and tied on a size 14 hook. I let most of the flies sit in the box and took a few pictures but never used one. One day the thought hit me that someone had tied these flies to use so I began replicating a few nymphs and one was the brown and gold soft hackle. I chose to fish the old fly that seemed to be calling for me. I cast to a nice ripple in 2 feet of water behind a boulder and on the first cast I watched the line stop. I was so amazed I almost didn't set the hook. Even though I was sleeping when I pulled back so did the fish. I hooked and landed a 2 pound brown on the first cast. I caught 2 more real nice fish before I lost the fly. I even tried the one I had tied with rusty dubbing and caught a nice rainbow of about the same size. It was a great experience and helped me add some soft hackle flies to my fly box. It also made me realize that I did not have to add a bead head to every nymph I tied as I had in the past.

I should also mention that the hackle feather(s) should be chosen with the insect wing color more or less in mind (a nice dun-gray seems to work well for quite a few mayflies, but go with what seems right for the insect in question). From an angling perspective, one might also try fishing this fly in a "selective dropper" rig. That is, running two (or more) stages of the hatching insect(s) in a dropper set-up. If the fish are really keyed on one particular stage, you'll know in short order by the fly that gets the most "eats."

Sayfu—Thanks for adding the additional info and tying approach (I've seen some lovely "film-fly" beadheaded soft-hackles out there). I'd also add to some more the conversation by saying that if a tyer can handle dubbing loops, there's a third way to get soft-hackles in place (I like the dubbing loop method myself, due to its ability to make soft-hackles from all sorts of feathers and bits of feathers).

Jason. I showed the "applying" approach to Sylvester himself 5, or 6 yrs. ago at our big flytying expo in Idaho Falls. When I sat down at his booth to watch him tie, he said to me he wished he could tie them much smaller than a #14. I said I'd show him a way, and sat down at his booth, and tied one showing him how to apply the feather, and if the hackles are too long you can draw the feather back through the thread to the length you want adjusting the feather length. Sylvester got excited about it, and drew a number of diagrams on paper, and included it in his latest book. The key though, to make it easy to secure the feather is the front bead. It allows you to pull the feather down behind the bead and trim it off securing the feather, BUT, Sy insisted I do it without a bead, because he doesn't use any synthetics..fur and feathers only. The very small XSM plastic beads in brown, black, peacock herl look very much like a bug head, help in sizing because you can't crowd the eye, and keep the eye free of head cement. I use those small plastics on my BWO's, midges, and PMD surface patterns. I use the Borger knot to tie them off, and it is a very effective, very simple to tie fly. The other aspect, which you know, is you do not need to see the fly,... follow with the rod tip, maybe make a mend, and feel the tug.

syl books, along with others, have contributed to the longevity of Soft-hackles in an art that begs to expand to the more complex. I consistently bring in fish with clients using Flymphs and Softs. In Two Cenuries of Soft-Hackles flies, Mr. Nemes gives us a look at the evolution, methods and use of the flies using a historical formate, gleeming new insight with each turn of the page.

Allen McGee gives a perfect pictorial example on 10 of his book Tying and Fishing Soft-Hackled Nymps showing just how this fly mimics an ascending insect with legs and wings held back.

Jason, thank you for the always valuable and timely input. If you haven't investigated the benefit of tying the SH flies don't delay. You'll save money, time tying and catch fish.

The first three flies I learned to tie were a Gray Hackle Yellow, a Gray Hackle Peacock, and a Rio Grande King. The last one was the most difficult to tie due to those pain in the butt white, duck quill wings. The first two are the most effective flies I have ever used for both trout and panfish. When I began using Partridge and Starling feathers for my soft hackles instead of webby grizzly hackle, they became even more effective. I usually tie the soft hackle in first, then the body, and then a dark gray fur/synthetic thorax, or one made of peacock and/or black or brown ostrich. My soft hackles tend to be VERY scantily dressed. Sizes 12-16 seem to work best in our freestone streams here on the west coast, and I prefer flies tied on a one-size bigger, 1XL/2X Wide hook (for instance, tying a partridge-and-green soft hackle with size 16 dimensions on a size 14, 1 XL hook). It's almost impossible to fish a soft hackle "wrong"!