My first attempt at Partridge Soft Hackle flies

[bigslackwater]

I recently revisited Syl Nemes book The Soft Hackled Fly and decided to give them a try. I'm just a hack at tying and these were some enjoyable flies to tie. Quick, easy and not too stressful! I looked at the recipes in the book but basically tried to imitate the pictures. These are from back to front size 12-18. though they all look the same size because of the angle. I was especially happy with the purple fly. There was a purple soft hackle fly in the book and I had nothing in that color but some purple marabou. So I cut some scraps off a feather I had thrown out and made some dubbing with it. It was a little tricky to dub but it works and it made an interesting texture.

 

[Volksnurse]

Can't wait to see some pics....partridge is nice but I like starling a little more. Just a preference

 

[bigslackwater]

It's there now! Just had to move the picture from my phone to my computer to resize and post Now I just need to learn to fish these things!

 

[Rolf]

My favorite flies to tie and favorite flies to fish. Nice job and let us know how you make out fishing them.

 

[beeber2]

Soft hackles rule! The third flies down with the brown body, it looks like they have a lot of hackle to me. I would tie them more sparse. One less turn (or maybe half turn) of hackle should do it. My favorite material is grizzly hen.

 

[FGSIII]

They look great!! I agree with beeber2 that they are slightly overhackled, but they will fish just fine. I usually strip one side of the partridge to keep it sparse.

As far as fishing them there are quite a few ways. Personally I like a down and across swing, then let it hang below me for a little bit and then employ the Leisenring lift.

Dead drift is always a good presentation as well.

I like using feathers from a drake mallard's wings for sulphur emergers.

Good luck and enjoy the hard takes you will be getting!!
Frank

 

[DGC]

The fly on the bottom right looks like something you could tie on for any pre hatch, hatch or spinner fall in # 12 to #20 for just about the rest of the year. Nice work.

 

[bigslackwater]

Thanks for the advice! I will try to tie them with fewer turns. I was amazed when I read in the book that Nemes would only do 1 to 1.5 turns. Then a figure eight through the hackles and whip finish. I thought there had to be more but I guess less IS more in this case. I like the idea of stripping one side. I will try that. It seems like the real trick is getting the hackles to lay in the right position without having to wrap back to force them in to position. The second to the bottom left wrapped in place nicely...the bottom left is one that I had to wrap back to force them to curve backward rather than forward or all over the place.

Does anyone use weight (lead/beadhead) on their soft hackles? I tried fishing one of these for a bit and got frustrated because I couldn't get it to sink!! Since I was fishing on a time limit I gave up on the soft hackle for a longer outing that I can experiment. It's funny that when I fish dries, I spend a lot of effort trying to keep them above the surface...I throw a soft hackle and I couldn't get the thing to stop floating!!!

 

[gfen]

With a classic partridge spider, you don't want it to lay back. You want it to stick straight out. One turn, behind the head, and don't let it lay back.

I don't think I strip half a partridge, they're just awful little feathers to work with, and I prefer hen saddle. Hen you can pull one side off pretty easily.

With hen, depending on the result, I will either wrap 2ish directly behind the head, or 2-3 across the entire "thorax." When I do that, its always half stripped.

eg:

Your other option is the older Stewart's method. You can use your feather, again a hen, starling, or other such feather, and wrap it around the thread then wrap the entire thread around the hook:

 

[beeber2]

Yeah I use weight on them, sometimes it helps to get them down a little lower. A bead head works great. I have also used quick descent dubbing and wire. I try to avoid lead wraps as it will make the body too thick for my liking. I am going to try a split shot a foot up from the flies too. I like to fish two of them, my most common rig.

 

[MrMustard]

bigslackwater wrote:

Does anyone use weight (lead/beadhead) on their soft hackles?

I had good luck with a beadhead soft hackle last week. Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

I liked the beadhead version better than unweighted with split above.