Soft Hackles

Bob, I do not pretend to be Kenny. When I fish soft hackles I rig so that the fly floats in the film, first 2 inches or so below the surface, no split shot. I usually will dress my tippet with floatant about 6 to 8 inches above the fly. Then I will make a slow retrieve to keep the fly up in the film.

BOB3700
One of my favorite flies to fish is the soft hackle fly. I will usually fish them if the trout are rising but not necessarily to dry flies but emerging flies just below the surface in the film layer. I fish them using a swing technique usually casting 3/4 downstream and allowing them to swing directly downstream. I do not use any weight, although you can if you want to fish them deep but I fish them on the surface.

For techniques please go to our FATC ‘Fly Shop’ section in our Menu – Education section. Go to page 3 (past posts) and read about soft hackle techniques. Also you can go to our Search block and type in soft hackles, it should bring you to all soft hackle articles too.

Kenny