Flyday Friday - Making them move
Traditionally fished in tandem on the swing, soft hackles are just as effective pitched upstream and tumbled back down through the riffles, twitched through a stillwater or pulled as a team on a sunken line.
Soft hackle fibres add movement, the suggestion of life to a fly and I find this important as waters get low and fish inspect everything as summer kicks in. Pheasant tails, quill type flies, and even hares ears etc are often harder, rigid patterns sending out the fish catching prey image, but not necessarily eye catching movement for the more discerning trout. This can be totally remedied with the addition of a turn, or sparse pinch of a soft hackle fibre.
Baring this in mind, theres often a soft hackle on my rig at all times from hereon in coming into low, summer conditions wether a beaded version beneath a dry, or unweighted version on a trailer behind a weighted nymph, and surprise: MANIC again have you covered... check these out...
Unweighted Patterns
Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail
Soft Hackle Hares Ear
Soft Hackle Peacock
Black & Peacock
Beaded Patterns
BH Soft Hackle Olive
BH Soft Hackle Psuedo Sawyer