When all else fails, soft hackle swing FTW. This is especially true when you’re able to identify they are taking emergers. A dead giveaway they are keyed onto emergers is that you don’t see their noses when they rise, you see their back and dorsal, like a humpback whale.
I really enjoyed this deep dive video. Maybe it was because you were by yourself, the joking and laughing in some of your other videos, made it hard to weed through to the info you were trying to put forth. Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge. WayneO
Sylvester Nemes wrote at least three books on soft hackles 40-50 years ago, starting a minor US revival of interest in this family of flies. Before that, Leisenring & Hidy's Art of Tying the Wet Fly & Fishing the Flymph treated wings as the least important part of wet flies. Some of the most thoughtful work about techniques for actively presenting soft hackles has reached the English-speaking world through tenkara, for which Daniel Galhardo's Tenkara provides a handy summary. (BTW, the stereotypical reverse-hackle tenkara fly is only part of the Japanese tradition, which includes patterns hackles swept back like British spiders and also patterns with hackles tied perpendicularly to the hook as on dries — and also the English stiff-hackle wets described by HC Cutcliffe in _The Art of Trout Fishing In Rapid Streams_, recently republished by Paul Gaskell.)
I have a lot of luck fishing soft hackles as the highest fly in the water column on a drop-shot rig. It's difficult to time a merge if nothing is happening on the surface but if I see rises with no bugs on the surface, soft hackle. I never thought of using the soft hackle for a beginner though, that's a wonderful idea because you can just tie a single fly on and swinging it is actually a legitimate presentation. I'm going to try that with my daughter today. I think the wet fly I've had the least amount of luck with is the big ol' stonefly attractor patterns like a Bitc4 Creek, for example.
Thanks Spencer for this video. The comedic soft hackl, soft hackle had my laughing and the education of soft hackles was informative and enjoyable. I now want to try it in a deep hole at the inflow at the upper end of a local lake that holds big brownies n rainbows. Thank again! God Bless n Fish on!
Doesn't get much attention??? It's the number one fly out there. Number one available. Number one sold. It catches more of any fish. Can be be presented and fished more that any other fly
The traditional soft hackled flies of Yorkshire were not dressed to imitate nymphs, but were in fact dressed to imitate adult insects trapped in the surface film. This is evident with any cursory look into the old publications and manuscripts. It is also important to point out that there were also winged soft hackled flies as well as the now more familiar hackled dressings. There is also the common misconception that the hackles move in the water. Sadly, this is erroneous, as there isn't enough mass in the hackle fibres for the current to push against. When you see images of soft hackles trapped against the fly body, this is always when the fly is out of the water and the surrounding air creates a surface tension which affects the hackle fibres. This surface tension isn't present when the fly is in the river. Oliver Edwards and myself spent many hours observing spiders/soft hackles drifting down the River Wharfe, trying to see if the hackles pressed against the fly body in the often quoted manner. They never did! Alan Bithell's comment that "fished as part of their living, selling their catch" is also erroneous. Fly fishing is not productive enough to make a living out of or feed your family with. If there was a need for food or money, they would have simply used a net or other nefarious ways of taking fish out of the river. I could go on, but this comment section would be twenty pages long…
Sorry, but I couldn’t disagree more with your definition and information about wet flies. All soft hackles/spiders are wet flies; NOT all wet flies are soft hackles. There are winged wets, palmered wets, and spiders/soft hackles. Though I would say a better classification for them are deceivers, imitators, and attractors. Swinging them is one method to fish them, but it’s definitely not the most effective. You’ll generally only catch the dumb ones if you swing them. Too much to say here, but if you really want to know how to fish wet flies watch Davy Wotton’s “Wet Fly Ways.” Davy is the real authority on all things wet flies.
There is a quote by TE Pritt about swinging wet flies, “‘tis the devil’s work my son, and do not let me catch you about it.” What nymph has the power to swim across a river’s current? Previous to this I watched Joe Humphries tell how he learned to fish wet flies up stream. Swinging wet flies tends to target smaller juvenile fish. Spider flies do not move in the water. If they are dead drifted there is nothing pushing them to make them move, if you swing them the hackle collapses around the body of the fly. In the words of my late friend Oliver Edwards, “They drift in the current like the spokes of an open umbrella.” Remember that those who developed this method and the patterns that go with it, fished as part of their living, selling their catch. They would not use a less effective method. Looking forward to the Irn Brew reaction.
Wow! Well done! I was introduced to these flys in North Central PA years ago….. people have looked at me like I'm a Martian. I continue to use them, when I can find them in fly shops. And with God success. They're coming back! Great video great lesson… Really enjoyed this! Thanks!
here is some great advice i fish wet flies of the current hatch and kill them the fish example i tie march brown wets hendricksons quill gordans and other colors such as grey blueish tan and sone darker colors when i think of soft hackels flies like the picket pen wolly worms and other bushy soft hackles try the wet version of the fly that is hatching and you will kill them a lot of fly fisherman think that the trout eat more emergers than the adult flies on the water food for thought
I’m new to flyfishing and was told to buy some soft hackles, so I did. But how are you supposed to know there was a strike if the flies are below the water and no indicators involved
Learned so much here. I always thought all wet flies were meant to mimic small fish, minnows, etc. My favorites, btw, are the Alexandra and the Carey Special.
hi my name is leon hatting and i am from south africa acording to my way of fishing a wet fly is to use sinking line the way i fish cast your line give it 5 secondsto sink and then start striping vearios tipe of striping 2 short strips and then a long strip or the figer eightstripor just long strips about 200 mm and veary it all the time when your fly hits the water u cover the top section then mid section and then the bottom section of the riveri will admit i do not know much about dry fly fishingas for yellow fish you will not catch it on dry fly he is a bottom feeder but that is fishing in south africa
My PB 28" Rainbow came on a soft hackle caddis emerger that i tie. You will not find it in any fly shop that I know of. It has been developed from 44 years of time on the water. It doesn't matter where I am, it works.
Simon Gawesworth is by far the best teacher in fly fishing I've ever watched, so clear and informative and often goes into the subtleties often critical and over looked, a great ambassador for fishing and Great Britain. Not to say Tom Rosenbauer isn't a brilliant teacher, both have changed how I fly fish.
Can you use your Euro rig with wet flies, i havent tried it, ive used wets with my 9ft 5wt with a traditional wtf fly line with a regular 9 ft 6x leader with no problems and also what about matching hatches
See "Tactics On Trout" by Ray Ovington. He will show how to fish a pair of wets in every possible situation. Great illustrations and dicussion.
Whenever I'm getting skunked, i remember an article by Yvon Chouinard- he fished nothing but a partridge PT for a year, all around the world, and caught plenty of fish. I'll make the switch and usually hook up.
🐟 Want to level up your skills and meet other like-minded anglers? Go here: https://vfc.media/YT-Community
When all else fails, soft hackle swing FTW. This is especially true when you’re able to identify they are taking emergers. A dead giveaway they are keyed onto emergers is that you don’t see their noses when they rise, you see their back and dorsal, like a humpback whale.
I really enjoyed this deep dive video. Maybe it was because you were by yourself, the joking and laughing in some of your other videos, made it hard to weed through to the info you were trying to put forth. Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge. WayneO
Why do Americans have to be different all the time? "Soft tackle"- dfuck is that? A Wet Fly – its in the name!
I’m pretty sure all “shimp and sandworm” imitations costal sea trout in Scandinavia fish are “wet flies”.
I am very interested in the “rigs and knots” Pocket guide! Would you be so kind as to send me it please!
Sylvester Nemes wrote at least three books on soft hackles 40-50 years ago, starting a minor US revival of interest in this family of flies. Before that, Leisenring & Hidy's Art of Tying the Wet Fly & Fishing the Flymph treated wings as the least important part of wet flies. Some of the most thoughtful work about techniques for actively presenting soft hackles has reached the English-speaking world through tenkara, for which Daniel Galhardo's Tenkara provides a handy summary. (BTW, the stereotypical reverse-hackle tenkara fly is only part of the Japanese tradition, which includes patterns hackles swept back like British spiders and also patterns with hackles tied perpendicularly to the hook as on dries — and also the English stiff-hackle wets described by HC Cutcliffe in _The Art of Trout Fishing In Rapid Streams_, recently republished by Paul Gaskell.)
I have a lot of luck fishing soft hackles as the highest fly in the water column on a drop-shot rig. It's difficult to time a merge if nothing is happening on the surface but if I see rises with no bugs on the surface, soft hackle. I never thought of using the soft hackle for a beginner though, that's a wonderful idea because you can just tie a single fly on and swinging it is actually a legitimate presentation. I'm going to try that with my daughter today. I think the wet fly I've had the least amount of luck with is the big ol' stonefly attractor patterns like a Bitc4 Creek, for example.
Thanks Spencer for this video. The comedic soft hackl, soft hackle had my laughing and the education of soft hackles was informative and enjoyable. I now want to try it in a deep hole at the inflow at the upper end of a local lake that holds big brownies n rainbows. Thank again! God Bless n Fish on!
I like a Partridge Hackle & butter yellow body to imitate a Spider found in the over-hanging Cedars in Spring-time.
Doesn't get much attention??? It's the number one fly out there. Number one available. Number one sold. It catches more of any fish. Can be be presented and fished more that any other fly
The traditional soft hackled flies of Yorkshire were not dressed to imitate nymphs, but were in fact dressed to imitate adult insects trapped in the surface film. This is evident with any cursory look into the old publications and manuscripts. It is also important to point out that there were also winged soft hackled flies as well as the now more familiar hackled dressings. There is also the common misconception that the hackles move in the water. Sadly, this is erroneous, as there isn't enough mass in the hackle fibres for the current to push against. When you see images of soft hackles trapped against the fly body, this is always when the fly is out of the water and the surrounding air creates a surface tension which affects the hackle fibres. This surface tension isn't present when the fly is in the river. Oliver Edwards and myself spent many hours observing spiders/soft hackles drifting down the River Wharfe, trying to see if the hackles pressed against the fly body in the often quoted manner. They never did! Alan Bithell's comment that "fished as part of their living, selling their catch" is also erroneous. Fly fishing is not productive enough to make a living out of or feed your family with. If there was a need for food or money, they would have simply used a net or other nefarious ways of taking fish out of the river. I could go on, but this comment section would be twenty pages long…
Sorry, but I couldn’t disagree more with your definition and information about wet flies. All soft hackles/spiders are wet flies; NOT all wet flies are soft hackles. There are winged wets, palmered wets, and spiders/soft hackles. Though I would say a better classification for them are deceivers, imitators, and attractors. Swinging them is one method to fish them, but it’s definitely not the most effective. You’ll generally only catch the dumb ones if you swing them. Too much to say here, but if you really want to know how to fish wet flies watch Davy Wotton’s “Wet Fly Ways.” Davy is the real authority on all things wet flies.
Such a great show Spencer. Really great info and you've got a great presence on camera. keep it up man! 🎉
There is a quote by TE Pritt about swinging wet flies, “‘tis the devil’s work my son, and do not let me catch you about it.” What nymph has the power to swim across a river’s current? Previous to this I watched Joe Humphries tell how he learned to fish wet flies up stream. Swinging wet flies tends to target smaller juvenile fish.
Spider flies do not move in the water. If they are dead drifted there is nothing pushing them to make them move, if you swing them the hackle collapses around the body of the fly. In the words of my late friend Oliver Edwards, “They drift in the current like the spokes of an open umbrella.” Remember that those who developed this method and the patterns that go with it, fished as part of their living, selling their catch. They would not use a less effective method.
Looking forward to the Irn Brew reaction.
These were great commercials!!
Oh, ya… I think there was something about flyfishing thrown in.
Wow! Well done! I was introduced to these flys in North Central PA years ago….. people have looked at me like I'm a Martian. I continue to use them, when I can find them in fly shops. And with God success. They're coming back! Great video great lesson… Really enjoyed this! Thanks!
here is some great advice i fish wet flies of the current hatch and kill them the fish example i tie march brown wets hendricksons quill gordans and other colors such as grey blueish tan and sone darker colors when i think of soft hackels flies like the picket pen wolly worms and other bushy soft hackles try the wet version of the fly that is hatching and you will kill them a lot of fly fisherman think that the trout eat more emergers than the adult flies on the water food for thought
Host: "I'm not knowledgeable about this topic." (30 seconds later): "Lemme give you the complete guide with all the best information."
You can have one, or the other, but not both. Pass
I’m new to flyfishing and was told to buy some soft hackles, so I did. But how are you supposed to know there was a strike if the flies are below the water and no indicators involved
Learned so much here. I always thought all wet flies were meant to mimic small fish, minnows, etc. My favorites, btw, are the Alexandra and the Carey Special.
hi my name is leon hatting and i am from south africa acording to my way of fishing a wet fly is to use sinking line the way i fish cast your line give it 5 secondsto sink and then start striping vearios tipe of striping 2 short strips and then a long strip or the figer eightstripor just long strips about 200 mm and veary it all the time when your fly hits the water u cover the top section then mid section and then the bottom section of the riveri will admit i do not know much about dry fly fishingas for yellow fish you will not catch it on dry fly he is a bottom feeder but that is fishing in south africa
I don't use a bead head, instead I use Peacock pearl for the head
Had a great day today on the East Fork of the French Broad River in Brevard, NC. 15 + fish big hookups on the old reliable soft hackle flies
It's similar to a Holy Grail but different. Size 18 and 20
My PB 28" Rainbow came on a soft hackle caddis emerger that i tie. You will not find it in any fly shop that I know of. It has been developed from 44 years of time on the water. It doesn't matter where I am, it works.
Simon Gawesworth is by far the best teacher in fly fishing I've ever watched, so clear and informative and often goes into the subtleties often critical and over looked, a great ambassador for fishing and Great Britain. Not to say Tom Rosenbauer isn't a brilliant teacher, both have changed how I fly fish.
How do I fish a dropper without a hopper? 😂
Merci 🎉
Love me Soft Hackles in NW Michigan
🎣
Peacock hearl body with soft grouse feather wing and a bead head has caught hundreds ++ of fish for me over the years.
Can you use your Euro rig with wet flies, i havent tried it, ive used wets with my 9ft 5wt with a traditional wtf fly line with a regular 9 ft 6x leader with no problems and also what about matching hatches
See "Tactics On Trout" by Ray Ovington. He will show how to fish a pair of wets in every possible situation. Great illustrations and dicussion.
Whenever I'm getting skunked, i remember an article by Yvon Chouinard- he fished nothing but a partridge PT for a year, all around the world, and caught plenty of fish. I'll make the switch and usually hook up.
Small mouth are prettier