Forum Home › Fly Fishing Tips and Techniques › Swing a Soft Hackle – question

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    • July 26, 2022 at 6:10 pm #25039
      Bob-STL
      Participant

      After some urging, for me “Swinging a Soft Hackle” is slowly becoming a go to technique to help determine what fish are hitting.  I understand the method of casting at a 45 degree angle downstream and letting the line and fly drift on its own to a point directly downstream from myself.

      However, what about casting directly upstream or at a 45 degree angle upstream?  If you are in a hole where you are downstream from the hole and that’s the only way to access it(for example, the deep hole above the Boulder at Montauk), can you cast directly upstream or at an 45 degree angle upstream?  What do you do then with the retrieve?  What about setting the hook on a take?

      Thanks.

      Bob

    • July 26, 2022 at 8:01 pm #25043
      Kenny Klimes
      Keymaster

      Bob,

      I love fishing soft hackles and it’s one of my go to flies when I see the trout rising to insects in the film layer. I will usually always fish them with a downstream cast with a 45 degree angle down stream allowing them to “swing”. I will even let them hang downstream for a few seconds before re-casting.

      But your question is can you cast the soft hackle fly “upstream” and be effective. The answer is definitely YES! If I am throwing upstream I will do a few things a little differently. First, I will not throw my fly line upstream over the top of the feeding fish. Second, as your fly drifts towards you you will need to continually strip line in to keep your fly line fairly taut so you can set the hook. Third, the hook set is different. When fishing soft hackles downstream you barely set the hook – let the fish set the hook for you as the fish will pull the fly away from you or downstream. When fishing upstream keep your line taut and you will have to do a hook set to hook the fish. A definite hook set vice letting the fish set the hook when casting downstream.  Tight lines.

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