Soft Hackles

mdk77 wrote:

Santa came early and I have a new book that talks about soft hackles.
It's "Wet Flies" by Dave Hughes. I already had a book by Hughes,
"Trout Flies - The Tier's Reference" that I REALLY liked. I can't
wait to read about the soft hackles in this new book by him.

It's a great book, and he shows a way of tying the hackles on that I
have used ever since I read about it. I don't think anyone mentioned
this method yet in this thread (though I'll admit I haven't follwoed it
really closely).

I'm working from memory here, but the way I remember it is he ties
the feather on parallel to the hook shank by the butt end (with the tip
extended past the eye in front) with the concave side facing the tier,
and strips the barbs off the top of the feather.

Then with the thread hanging just in front of the thorax area, he
takes a couple of wraps of hackle back towards the thorax, traps the
feather and then wraps forward through the hackle, being careful not to
trap any of the feather fibers.

This makes for a very small, neat head on the fly, plus it adds
durability.


Chuck Vance (I did a horrible job describing it, but you'll see
how easy it is in his pictures)