Noooooo. Soft Hackles are bad, bad, bad...Don't take any with you to a tailwater...especially not olives in the 16-18 range...Do not fish them across and down, letting them swing in the current. I would also strongly suggest that you not take between 6 and 12 with you because they might get chewed to bits...
"They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore." - John Gierach
Technically, it's not a caddis. It's a relative of the dobson fly (hellgrammite.)Originally Posted by dudley
A wet fly is definitely the way to go, though. Besides soft hackles, there's a traditional winged wet called the Alderfly. It's essentially a winged version of the fly you pictured.
They do tend to get hammered and beat up very quickly.
Last edited by Big Bad Wulff; 11-17-2008 at 09:30 PM.
Good fishing technique trumps all.....wish I had it.
Ken,
I'm not the fanciest tier but I would be happy to tie you some soft hackles. I will tie some patterns already suggested and some others. PM me with your address if you would like.
Steve
Me too!
This happens to both me and my soft hackles all the time!
Last edited by Eight Thumbs; 11-18-2008 at 07:00 AM.
They are quick and easy to tie though.
Perhaps I should have been more clear
There's the true alderfly and then there's the caddis that here in the northeast is called the alder fly
Confusing to say the least, but true
It took me a long time to figure this out myself.
With a very quick look around at the web, I found this
Angling the Androscoggin- A River Redeemed | Flyfish.com
The 'alder fly' in my area are more like a size 12The alder fly is the signature hatch for the Androscoggin and occurs in late June. The alder fly is not actually an alder fly, but rather a caddis that roosts in the alder trees as adults after they hatch. And they hatch in huge numbers. It is possible to shake thousands of the adults from a tree by giving a branch a shake. This particular alder fly is a good size caddis that is about half to three-quarters of an inch - approximately a size 14 hook.
They have molted wings rather that the grey-brown wings of the true alderfly
The simpler the outfit, the more skill it takes to manage it, and the more pleasure one gets in his achievements.
--- Horace Kephart
Ah! It was kind of a moot point anyway, since a true alderfly looks enough like a caddis that you can use the same flies for both.
The Softhackle is just about the easist fly to dress, especially the North Country Spiders.
Have a look at the web site below.
Hi,
Also check out the article under Advanced Fly Fish (a previous article) titled "The spider patterns of Northern England". It covers fishing technique quite well. Donald's site is a great resource for patterns, so bookmark it!
- Jeff
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