Soft Hackle Wet Flies

These incredibly versatile patterns will catch many species of game fish under a wide range of conditions. Literature has made the soft hackle style of fly most popular for trout in streams. Here they are usually fished dead drift or on the swing as a wet fly. Often the best best depth is very shallow. Presented in this manner these patterns represent insects which are struggling just below the surface. The soft, wet, flowing hackle simulates the activity of thrashing legs and beating wings.

Soft hackle flies are also very productive in lakes and ponds for most species of trout, char, bass and panfish. These patterns are often fished in the surface film as an emerging insect. This can be a very productive method during mayfly and caddis hatches. Cast the fly with a floating lines ahead of cruising trout. Barely twitch the fly as the fish approaches. Soft Hackles can also be fished deeper around submerged weeds or even along more barren rocky bottoms. When retrieved through still water, the the long supple hackles mimic swimming legs. Several species of dragonfly nymphs swim with their legs extended. The Carey Special series flies were first used in Canadian lakes to mimic dragon fly nymphs and emerging sedges.
Soft Hackles are some of the world's oldest and simplest fly patterns. Some patterns have remained productive for hundreds of years.
In 1496 Dame Juliana Berners published "The Treatise of Fishing with an Angle". It was the first definitive work on sports angling written in the English language. In it were the first twelve fly patterns. They were all soft hackle type wet flies. Sylvester Nemes in his great book The Soft Hackle Fly Addict brought these simple flies to the attention of modern anglers. Soft Hackles are as popular and productive as when first written five hundred years ago.
All of the flies listed below are dressed on standard wet fly hooks but are other wise unweighted.

B. H. Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
13355	Bead Head Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail	14	3 for $6.75
13356	Bead Head Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail	16	3 for $6.75
13357	Bead Head Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail	18	3 for $6.75

Soft Hackle, Partridge And Yellow A similar fly appears in English literature as early as 1496. It may already have been used for centuries, but not recorded.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
17454	Soft Hackle, Partridge And Yellow	14	3 for $5.95

Soft Hackle, Starling and Herl This can be a very productive fly, especially when small dark insects such and micro caddis, ants or beetles are on the water.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
12370-18	Soft Hackle, Starling And Herl	18	3 for $5.85

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B.H. Soft Hackle P.T.	Partridge & Orange	Partridge & Yellow
Partridge & Green	Partridge & Peacock	Starling & Herl

Soft Hackle, Partridge And Green
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
17459	Soft Hackle, Partridge And Green	14	3 for $5.85

Soft Hackle, Partridge And Orange
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
17449	Soft Hackle, Partridge And Orange	14	3 for $5.85

Soft Hackle, Partridge And Peacock
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
17431	Soft Hackle, Partridge And Peacock	14	3 for $5.95