Beginner’s Fly Tying: Soft Hackle Wet Fly Patterns

By Don Fine

The fly pattern which I chose for our May beginner’s tying is the soft hackle wet fly pattern. As such, we will tie two different soft hackle patterns that use the same basic steps, giving the fly tier the experience of creating two different soft hackle flies. The two patterns are the partridge and herl, and partridge and orange. While the development and promotion of these and many other soft hackle patterns in America are generally attributed to the British gentleman Sylvester Nemes, the beginnings of tying and fishing soft hackle flies goes back to the mid-1700s (Richard Bowlker, 1747, The Art of Angling).

While the soft hackle fly is intended to mimic the same stage of development of an immature mayfly as with last month’s Light Cahill pattern, learning to tie this wet fly pattern advances our tying skills. These new skills include the use of peacock herl and silk to create the abdomen of the fly, segmentation of the abdomen with fine wire, and applications of a dubbing bump and a partridge feather hackle collar at the front of the fly.

Instructions for Tying a Partridge and Yellow

Materials:

• 1X fine or 2X stout, wet fly hook sizes 10-18
• Thread 6x (light colored, e.g. yellow, cream, or orange), 8x for size 14-18
• Body material- two layers of working silk
• Thorax – green damsel dubbing
• Hackle – Gray partridge feather

Tying Steps (use same steps for Partridge and Orange or Partridge and Green):

1. Use pliers to flatten the barb on the hook and place in the tying vise.
2. Start the thread immediately behind the hook eye, then make thread wraps approximately ½ way down the hook shank toward the bend of the hook.
3. While holding a piece of tying silk in your left hand, secure the tying silk (at this mid shank location) with several wraps of tying thread. Then advance the tying thread to a point approximately 1/4” behind the hook eye, letting the thread bobbin hang at this location.
4. Then wrap the (yellow) tying silk toward the curve of the hook stopping immediately above the hook point, then reverse directions wrapping a second layer of (yellow) tying silk over the first layer advancing toward the eye of the hook, until you come to the location where your tying thread is now hanging.
5. Secure the silk with the tying thread and carefully cut off the excess silk body wrap.
6. Take a small pinch of the light colored (green damsel) dubbing and twist it onto the tying thread, creating a very short dubbing noodle (~ ½” long). Wrap this dubbing noodle around the shank to create a small dubbing ‘ball’ at this location (which should be still be approximately ¼” behind the hook eye). This dubbing ball should be slightly ‘spiky’ with fibers pointing outward. Advance the remainder of your tying thread (without dubbing) forward now very close to the eye of the hook.
7. Select a grey partridge feather, the individual fibers should be a bit longer than the hook shank or about twice the hook gape. To prepare the feather for tying onto the hook;
   1. first peel away the fuzz at the bottom of the feather, leaving only the fibers which are well marked
   2. flare the fibers from the feather shank, leaving a small section at the tip of the feather unflared (these fibers at the tip will look like a small diamond shaped tip)
8. At this point your tying thread should be immediately behind the hook eye. Using your left hand hold the partridge feather (which you have just prepared in step 2 above) by the feather butt, with the concave side of the feather facing away from you (i.e. facing the hook shank). Then position the feather so that the diamond-shaped tip is slightly underneath the hook with the tip of the feather projecting beyond the hook eye.
9. At that portion of the feather, between the flared fibers and the diamond-shaped tip, make three or four thread wraps around the hackle stem while advancing toward the dubbing ball. These wraps should secure the feather (stem) to the hook shank. Carefully clip off the diamond-shaped tip and advance the tying thread back toward the eye of the hook.
10. Fasten your hackle pliers to the butt end of the hackle. (Preferably, the hackle pliers should have rubber coated tips to avoid cutting the fragile stem). Take a single turn of hackle around the hook shank, while stroking the fibers backward (with your left hand).
11. Take another turn of hackle around the hook shank, just in front of the first turn of hackle, again stroking the fibers toward the bend of the hook (with your left hand).
12. After executing 1 ½ to 2 turns of hackle around the hook shank, hold the hackle tip with the pliers above the shank of the hook, and make 2 thread wraps around the hook shank immediately behind (i.e. left of) the hackle stem. Then exchange hands, with your left hand holding the hackle pliers and the right hand making 2 thread wraps immediately in front of (i.e. right of) the hackle stem.
13. Carefully clip off the excess (butt end) of the hackle (which is being held by the hackle pliers).
14. Gently (using your left hand) hold the hackle collar toward the bend of the hook, and make several additional thread wraps forward of the hackle toward the hook eye, and build a tapered head with the tying thread, before half-hitching or whip finishing the fly and cutting the tying thread.

Instructions for Tying a Partridge and Herl

Materials:

• 1 X fine wet fly hook sizes 14-18
• Thread 6x-8x black, or dark grey
• Body material – peacock herl
• Fine copper wire
• Dark hare’s ear dubbing
• Hackle – grey partridge feather

Tying Steps:

1. Use pliers to flatten the barb on the hook and place in the tying vise.
2. Start the thread immediately behind the hook eye, then make thread wraps approximately ½ way down the hook shank toward the bend of the hook.
3. At this location tie in, a 3” piece of fine copper wire along the far side of the hook and then advance thread wraps (over the wire) rearward along the hook shank. Then make thread wraps forward toward the eye stopping the thread wraps mid-shank.
4. At this location tie in (at the tip) two 4” strands of peacock herl, and continue to wrap the thread over the peacock herl toward the bend of the hook stopping immediately above the hook barb. Advance the thread forward until it is ~1/2” behind the thread eye.
5. Wrap the two peacock herl fibers forward toward eye stopping where the tying thread is now hanging. Then secure the peacock with several thread wraps and cut off the free peacock fibers.
6. Next counter wrap the copper wire forward creating segmentation along the peacock fiber abdomen of the fly. Secure the copper wire with several thread wraps and cut off (or circle wiggle) the wire until it breaks off.
7. Take a small pinch of the dark colored (hare’s ear) dubbing and twist it onto the tying thread, creating a very short dubbing noodle (~ ½” long). Wrap this dubbing noodle around the shank to create a small dubbing ‘ball’ at this location (which should be still be approximately ¼” behind the hook eye. This dubbing ball should be slightly ‘spiky’ with fibers pointing outward. Advance the remainder of your tying thread (without dubbing) forward now very close to the eye of the hook.
8. Then follow steps 7-14 above (as described for the partridge and yellow) to complete the fly.