A few simple softhackles

[ScottP]

Back in April, I spent some time in SW Montana helping out with a National Wildlife Federation study on Sage Grouse habitat and breeding activity. The director of the program, Ben Deeble, in addition to being an outstanding birder, bird dog trainer and all-around nice guy, is a pretty accomplished bird hunter. A few weeks ago he sent me some partridge that he had harvested this fall; I'm tying some soft hackles up to send back to Ben, hopefully he'll be able to take a break from his busy schedule and spend some time fishing around Missoula in 2012. Nothing fancy here, and a few of the hackles are a bit oversized, it's been over a month since I've tied anything and it takes a while to get everything (including sense of proportion) in synch:


pheasant tail




partridge & peacock




b/h pheasant tail




biot & peacock




wire body






Regards,
Scott

[chewydog]

I haven't tied many soft hackles till recently. Been tying a few PT's. Liking the biot.

[texfly]

Nice job. Really like the biot and peacock.

[pittendrigh]

Well done.

[Byron haugh]

Very nice!

[DUB]

Seeing well tyed Soft Hackles is like a breath of fresh air.

[JohnScott]

Nice job on the flies, Scott. And the pixels are exceptional. What kind of camera and lighting set up are you using ??

John

[ScottP]

Thanks everyone for the kind words, especially from some true shutterbugs. John, I'm embarrassed to say the camera set-up is even more basic than the flies - a 5 yr old Canon Powershot SD750, my Ott light (over the top of the vise), a cheap clamp-on 60w lamp (from the side) and a piece of black construction paper background. Apparently, the camera has a decent macro setting; I didn't even know about it until my daughter started taking some real cool closeups of flowers, vegetation and bugs while we were hiking in Glacier. Wish I could take it fishing (the one I use for those pics is a $39 Vivitar I picked up at the Wal-Mart in Polson), but it's not water/shockproof; have to start saving up for one of those.

Regards,
Scott

[lastchance]

Nice ties, Scott. Where do you fish around Ashburn? Just curious.
Bruce

[ScottP]

Bruce,

The ponds around here have some decent bass & bluegills; used to get some surprisingly nice crappies but either they're gone or I lost my touch (I'd guess the latter); most of the creeks are heavily posted. I've fished the Potomac some, up higher, for smallmouth although that's something I should explore a little more (a friend recently started fishing it from a kayak and he did very well this season), and down towards DC during shad season. Closest (50 miles) decent trout fishing is up in MD; SNP, PA and VA limestoners are a bit further. The best striper fishing I've found from shore is about 90 miles away, but that's a night-time/falling tide proposition and I usually have to pick the crappiest weather I can to avoid the crowds.

Regards,
Scott