I shiver, awakening from deep sleep. Goosebumps signal a welcome chill in the morning air. I roll over on to my back, pull up both sheets, and stare at the ceiling, where a spider clings motionless, guarding her ball of eggs. My stomach growls. I stretch my legs and arms and arch my back like a hungry cat. Slowly, my eyes focus on the open window, where plump clouds drift like stuffed white sausages across the cool, gray sky — a welcome sight. The relentless summer heat has ceased. I can no longer call my family in cloudy Michigan and complain that I am so depressed because I awoke to another sunny day. A high five to the coming of autumn, long pants, and rain jackets. Double high fives to the hatches of little Baetis mayflies and the happy trout that will see my soft hackle drifting down to them.
The Pale Morning Duns of the warmer months give way to the Baetis hatches of shorter days and cool, inclement weather. That is when I replace yellow with olive and reintroduce one of my favorite Blue-Winged Olive patterns to my little box of dry flies. The pattern’s name is the It, a soft-hackle pattern that can be fished wet or dry. Here is how you tie it.
Place a size 16 TMC 2487 into your vise. Attach a fine chartreuse thread an eighth of an inch behind the eye. The first step is to create a nymphal shuck out of marabou, extending behind the hook. Select a few barbules of olive marabou, lash them down just behind the eye and extending the shank’s length past the bend, then wind thread over the marabou, back to the bend of the hook and then forward, stopping three-quarters of the way to the eye. Let the bobbin hang and snip off the excess marabou.
Next, form the abdomen. Begin by tying in a six-inch length of olive micro tubing where you left the bobbin hanging. Secure it to the top of shank by winding the thread back over it to the bend, then stop, leaving the tubing hanging behind the hook. Tie in two strands of chartreuse Krystal Flash at the bend and wind the thread forward three-quarters of the way to the eye again. That is where you will finish off the next two steps. Snip away the tags and leave the bobbin hanging. Finish the abdomen by first advancing the flash strands, covering the abdomen. Secure them and trim the excess, then wrap the tubing forward in touching wraps, tie it off, and snip away the excess tubing.
Now create the thorax, using peacock herl. Place a drop of cement for strength three-quarters of the way up the shank. Tie in the herl and wind it forward, stopping about an eighth of an inch from the eye. Tie it off and trim. There should still be unused shank behind the eye. That is for the starling soft hackle.
Select a starling feather and tie down the stem in front of the abdomen, tip facing forward. Take your hackle pliers and grab the tip of the feather. Make two turns and tie it off, then snip away the stem. Whip finish a small head and finish by coloring the top of the head with a brown marker and applying head cement. You’re finished.
The It, like most soft-hackle patterns, is very versatile. I fish this in the surface as a dry, swing it, either shallow or deep attached to a sinking leader, and drift it suspended under an indicator. Give the It a swim your next time out. And hey, enjoy the cool weather.
— Andy Guibord
