Swinging Soft Hackles

[vaheelsfan]

This is supposedly one of the easiest ways to catch trout, but I've never really tried it until the other day and did so only halfheartedly then. I have a dozen or so partridge and orange in one of my boxes, sizes 12-16. Just tie one on, cast cross current and let it swing down? From everything I've found, that seems to be about all there is to it but I feel like I'm missing out on something. Should I tie on something like a bead head bugger to get the soft hackle down, just let it go where it wants, or try a variety of ways until I find something that works? I've almost always fished upstream, opposite of how the fish are facing, so fishing downstream is kind of new to me. Can it be done on smaller waters, or better kept to larger streams/rivers?

 

[old timer]

The Partridge & Orange is a North Country Spider. You don't have to fish it downstream. I never do. I fish it upstream just like a dry fly. It's supposed to ride high in the water column 6"-12" below the surface.

 

[Rip Tide]

When fishing wet flies on the swing it's all about mending.
Cast across, up or down and then up-stream mend to let your fly sink
The longer that you can hold it in place, the deeper it sinks.
Then up-stream mend again (and again) to control the speed. Or down current mend if you want to it to swing faster.

When your fly approaches a suspected lie, you'll upstream mend to hold it in the current lane.
Then you might want to exercise a "Leisenring Lift," to induce a strike.
It's all about manipulating the fly.
A simple cast and swing doesn't cut it.
Fly rods excel at one thing and that's mending
Basic ****

 

[brownbass]

I sometimes fish a smaller fly behind the larger fly. Cast across and let it swing. As the flies get downstream they will start to rise and often that is when you get a hit. You can add a weight bead or weight if you like.

Bill

 

[huronfly]

A simple cast and swing works great for me... I also use a beadhead if I want to cut through surface currents and get deeper. I love fishing this technique at times, not too much to think about, just wait for the grab!

 

[coug]

I love soft hackles. I like rip's description. Mend to get them to sink. They will start to rise when the line gets taught and that is when many strikes occur. Just use mends to control when that happens. I just let it swing and come up. It also depends on the water, I have fished them like I do a dry, they just float in the film or below, in some places, or cast upstream as mentioned above. I will often fish one as a dropper off of a dry when fishing seams between fast and soft water, and more often than not the fish will go after the soft hackle.

 

[Unknownflyman]

I also swing a lot of soft hackles and wet flies, not much to add but sometimes to get down I’ll cast a 9’ sinking tapered mono polyleader. Casts nice just like a regular leader and you still have to mend, it just helps get deeper and more of a rise on the swing which helps. I do hook up more swinging classic flies and streamers on polyleaders.

 

[ddb]

Maybe I just make simple things hard for no reason, but swinging soft hackles for me is very involved.

Figuring where to cast to best cover the most likely holding water, judging current speeds and variations, and making and adjusting the mend to pace the fly in the way that trout are taking that day for me is far from chuck and pray. Then you must use the right hooking technique depending on the fish's position -- up, across, or down stream. And remember to let the fly dangle directly down from you where slash strikes often occur...

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.... And it is about as much pure fun as I can stand at my advancing age.

ddb

 

[JoJer]

Also depends on weather you are fishing to rising fish, a particular fish, or prospecting obvious lies. I always figure the fish are feeding, even when I can't see them. If I don't see fish on top, I go deeper, but not on the bottom. 3 -6" above the bottom. And your soft hackle is dressed for success at any depth.

 

[bumble54]

To get the spider(soft hackle) down deeper in fast(er) water, tie the spider using colored copper wire for the body, snipe(or grouse) and purple is good one.

 

[Rip Tide]

My grandfather taught me how to fish wet flies back when I was barely old enough to hold a fly rod.
He was big time old school, fishing a "cast" of 3 traditional winged wets on a "wet fly action" bamboo rod and he would make those flies dance.
We would use a very stout leader and I don't remember ever changing flies.
A dark fly on the point, a medium colored fly for the first dropper, and a light colored fly for the "bob" (second/top dropper)

There's a mostly forgotten art to this style of fishing but it's very effective and it's all all about the mending

 

[neshannock]

Rio has two excellent videos devoted to soft hackle fishing.
Take a look at their website.

 

[flav]

I enjoy swinging soft hackles, but the times and places where I use them tend to be limited. I pretty much only use them before or at the beginning of a hatch when emergers are rising toward the surface and fish are looking up, and stick to broad and shallow riffles where I can get a nice long swing. A beadhead will help keep your fly just below the surface on the swing, but isn't always necessary. The fish grab pretty hard on a tight line swing, so beef up your tippet a bit or you'll break fish off.

 

[old timer]

Why I fish upstream. Maybe up and across. Never down and swing. I'm a traditionalist though and follow old ways of fishing and hunting.

YouTube

 

[mikemac1]

The bugger/soft hackle is a staple presentation in big to medium Montana rivers. In rivers like the Firehole, Gibbon and Madison in YNP the grass filled streams are and ideal place to SWING a soft hackle. Soft hackles in brown (pheasant fibers for body), olive (turkey quill fibers), peacock and of course orange, yellow or red silk are excellent patterns when aquatics, especially caddis are present and emerging. Soft hackles, properly fished represent an immature aquatic rising in the water column. A LIGHTLY weighted bugger with a soft hackle trailing no more than 12” behind is a very effective presentation. IMHO soft hackles should have ZERO weight added as that kills the “rising” effectiveness of the fly. The combo is particularly effective when undercut banks are present. A cast that drops the pair inches from the bank will entice fish to leave their security and feed. I like long casts that cover lots of water. Flies don’t need to get deep in most grassy streams. The fish are looking up.


A soft hackle hookup on the Firehole

 

[Rip Tide]

Why I fish upstream. Maybe up and across. Never down and swing. I'm a traditionalist though and follow old ways of fishing and hunting.

Well thanks.
Where were you 100 years ago when my grandfather first learned to fish traditional wet flies on the swing.?
You could have saved generations of fly fishers a lot of trouble.

 

[old timer]

Well thanks.
Where were you 100 years ago when my grandfather first learned to fish traditional wet flies on the swing.?
You could have saved generations of fly fishers a lot of trouble.

It's not my method. I learned from a book by Stewart published in the mid 1800's.

 

[dillon]

One should read Sylvester Nemes regarding soft hackle presentation. I double that he ever fished two flies. Only one fly can be fished properly...
.

 

[old timer]

Sylvester cracks me up. He thinks he invented mending.

 

[planettrout]

If there is a serious desire to learn how to fish and use soft hackles, I would suggest adding these two books to your library. The first has all the information presented in a way that Syl Nemes only wishes have might have done in his lifetime. It will also teach how to properly use the different areas on a Hare's mask, how to hackle small flies with large hackles - three methods and leader formulas for rolling your own:

https://www.amazon.com/Tying-Fishing-Soft-Hackled-Nymphs-Allen/dp/1571884033

...and the second takes tying and fishing soft hackles to an entirely different level:

https://www.amazon.com/Fly-Fishing-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EZVG8JFA4XYWR8FZHHNF

Allen McGee's website is here:

Allen McGee's Riverfly Angler


PT/TB