There are reaches of the river where depth, bottom structure, and flow coalesce to create the ideal environment for incubating wee caddis and mayfly species. Of course the trout are on to it and they are there, too. Scott Sadil and I watched the glide for signs of fish. We were done talking. On the drive up we’d covered art, music, writing, fly design, teaching methods, the environmental evils of unchecked materialism…. We talked a lot. But now we were wadered up and ready to fish. Scott chewed an apple, thoughtful, scanning the broad expanse of river in front of us fishing.
A couple rings appeared toward the far side of the glide, then a couple moments later another, closer, within casting distance. We squinted into the glare looking for bugs. There were the ubiquitous sedges. And then we began to discern the ephemeral trickle of small, size 16 to 18 mayflies coming off. No blizzard hatch, though the occasional, but steady rise rings indicated a few trout were up and going.
The mayflies appeared to be tannish, grayish, nondescript tiny sparks of life on the water. We couldn’t identify them and didn’t try to catch one so that we could. It didn’t matter. We didn’t need to know their Latin name. Or even their nickname. We knew enough. I opened my fly box and chose a size 16 soft-hackle Hare’s Ear. Without a word, in accord, Scott pulled out the little box he carries that holds nothing but business-like rows of the elegant soft-hackle Hare’s Ear variants he ties.
We took positions on the run and began to cast and work our flies, and shortly we were both into fish, our rods bent with quality, wild rainbows. Then, as light diminished from the water, the mayflies increased and the fishing got downright exciting, headed toward memorable.
We never did learn the mayfly we had seen. But that is part of the magic of the simple, soft-hackled fly. Though some are tied to imitate specific insects, most, like the Hare’s Ear, are simulative — they imitate nothing, yet look like everything. Regarding the fly: size, profile, and presentation are the most important factors when meeting a hatch. During such times, try to match the color of the insect fairly closely, and more importantly, get the size right. Choose a likely softie, and you’ll likely catch trout.
Soft-hackle flies present a profile that resembles both emerging nymphs and egg-laying or drowned adults, which means these flies can serve to meet all stages of the hatch. They can even can be dressed to float and fished as a dry fly.
When surface feeding activity is apparent, I’ll fish soft hackles with a floating line and a 12-foot monofilament leader, though sometimes I’ll go to 15 feet if conditions require it, or shorter on small streams. If I want to fish the fly in the surface film, I’ll rig a mono tippet. If fishing deeper, I’ll rig a fluorocarbon tippet, which sinks better than mono — though I prefer to keep the tapered butt section of the leader mono to provide some shock-absorbing stretch behind the fluoro tippet. I fasten tiny, metal tippet rings to the 8-foot to 10-foot tapered mono leader butts and simply tie tippet changes to the ring. If desired, a second fly on a short dropper can be tied to the ring.
Soft-hackle designs are versatile and can be fished a number of ways to meet the spectrum of stream situations. There are several ways to present a soft hackle to rising trout. Probably the most popular is the upstream wet-fly presentation, similar to fishing a dry fly upstream. The fly is cast upstream and allowed to dead-drift downstream to a point across from the caster. Tight contact with the fly must be maintained throughout the drift, which is accomplished by slowly lifting the rod (and gathering line, if necessary) as the fly drifts with the current. This is, basically, how we nymphed before the bobber became popular. The method is deceptively simple, requiring some practice to really master, but do it enough and you develop a canny sixth sense that lets you know when a trout is even thinking about eating the fly. G.E.M. Skues eloquently captured the delights of upstream wet-fly and nymph fishing in Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream (1910):
The indications which tell your dry-fly angler when to strike are clear and unmistakable, but those which bid a wet-fly man raise his rod-point and draw steel are frequently so subtle, so evanescent and impalpable to the senses, that, when the bending rod assures him he has divined aright, he feels an ecstasy as though he had performed a miracle, each time.
Swinging is a downstream approach that is particularly effective when fishing over sedge (aka caddis) hatches. The fly is cast slightly upstream, or straight across, or slightly downstream, then fished on a tight line while the fly drifts and then accelerates into a swing below the caster. When it arrives at the end of the swing, if the fly is still in likely fish-holding water, the rod slowly is raised to activate the fly, then lowered to allow the fly to drop back, then lifted again. Each of these actions may entice a strike. Strikes at the end of the drift can also be enticed by holding the rod tip close to the water and sweeping it from side to side to swim the fly back and forth. These actions applied at the end of the swing are called “fishing the dangle,” which, admittedly, goes against what we’ve heard about the importance of a natural drift. Nonetheless, the method can provoke vicious grabs.
Sometimes, if the water is right, I’ll fish both of the above methods on a cast, beginning with the upstream, dead-drift presentation, and then going into the downstream swing after the fly is across from my position. Stay versatile and avoid succumbing to blind methodology. Let the water and the trout tell you what you need to do.
Whatever presentation method you employ, it is often a good idea to activate the fly. Though at times trout will prefer it drifting au natural, most often a bit of movement helps to get their attention. The fly is your puppet on a string. Try to visualize what it is doing and what you want it to do. Activate it with short, intermittent pulses. This is accomplished by short-pumping the rod, or the line, or by swaying your body, subtly, back and forth. Not too much movement. One-inch to three-inch pulses to activate the hackle is all you want.
Here are five classic soft-hackle wet flies that will simulate many of the sedges and mayflies we’re likely to encounter during the hatch season. The soft-hackle design frame lends itself to infinite tying possibilities. The patterns presented here are the basics and probably familiar to most fly fishers. Versions of these have been in use for at least a couple hundred years, and for good reason. This selection, tied in sizes 12 through 18, will serve to cover a lot of bugs. Or to simplify matters, one might do as some of the Yorkshire purists do and tie sizes 16 and 18 on size 14 hooks — a good way to go if you’re fishing water where larger trout are likely and you want more iron to hold them.
But aren’t they hook shy? Well…trout see what they want to see. I prefer to tie my wet flies on straight-eye hooks, or hooks with slightly turned eyes, as these track and hover well. Unless fastened with a Turle Knot, the turned-eye may lever the fly off-kilter, causing it to tip or revolve like a screw in the current.
Hare’s Ear
Hook: Size 12 to 18 wet fly
Thread: Tan (try yellow, wine, olive, orange, to create a variety of undertones)
Hackle: Partridge
Rib: Gold wire
Body: Hare’s mask dubbing taken from the poll; keep the dubbing sparse (as a worthwhile option, apply a short thorax of peacock herl to simulate the darkened thorax of a mature mayfly emerged)
Partridge and Orange
Hook: Size 12 to 18 wet fly
Thread: Orange Pearsall’s silk or substitute (YLI silk thread, Danville 6/0, “A” rod wrapping thread, and embroidery thread are a few possibilities, given that indispensable Pearsall’s has gone out of business and now hard to find in stores)
Hackle: Partridge
Body: Orange tying silk (a short thorax of hare’s mask [as above], mole, or peacock herl is optional, as is yellow, dun, or light-gray dubbing for the thorax of the Partridge and Yellow)
Pheasant Tail
Hook: Size 12 to 18 wet fly
Thread: Black, brown, rust-brown or yellow
Hackle: Partridge
Rib: fine wire, your choice of color
Body: Cock ringneck pheasant tail swords twisted with a tag of the tying thread and wound as a chenille (the fly shown is dressed with a short thorax of peacock herl)
Partridge and Peacock
Hook: Size 12 to 18 wet fly
Thread: Black (try yellow or wine; the spectrum of thread colors can create enticing undertones)
Hackle: Partridge
Rib: Fine wire, your choice of color
Body: Peacock herl twisted with a tag of the tying thread
