Hi,
In terms of how much hackle is “right”, I’m of the opinion that if it depends upon anything it depends upon the water you’re fishing. In discoloured water, I’ve found that palmered flies, or ones with larger and fuller hackles, seem to work better. By palmered fly, I mean things like this soldier palmer:
rather than the half palmered Stewart Spiders.
I suspect the palmered hackle creates a bigger profile, and causes more disturbance, both of which help draw the trout’s attention to the fly when visibility is poor. I recall one day fishing the Wairoa and the water was stained, but not as muddy as it sometimes gets after a rain. I was having no luck with my spiders, which normally produce well. So, I switched to a Bibio (like the soldier palmer in shape, but the body is 3 sections dubbed black, red, black, with a black hackle, and no tail), and on the first drift in the section I was just fishing previously a trout shot out from the far bank, chased the fly down stream, and I got my first for the day! Ok, any number of reasons could be behind that, but I’m pretty sure the larger profile of the bibio and the extra wiggle from the palmered hackle allows these type of flies to do in discoloured and stained waters what a spider does in clearer situations. Namely, signal “eat me” to the trout. That being said, I’ve had fish come up to grab a soldier palmer in some of the clearest spring creeks I’ve fished as well!
I’ve tied up some fuller hackled version of Stewart Spiders to try in these dirty water situations as well. compress all the hackle in the above fly towards the front and you’ve got the idea. I was thinking of creating a sort of plow, and that these would create a good disturbance when held downstream against the current and retreived up a glide. Cholcomb’s versions have me thinking that the thinly dressed Stewart Spiders will work nicely in bouncy riffles and clearer water.
The Sparser North Country spiders have generally worked well for me in riffles or faster moving water, with good clarity. Again, the smaller profile with the wiggly bits probably more closely matches what the trout expects to see in terms of size and motion. I’ve not had as much luck with them in really slow moving, or still waters, but that is probably more because I don’t choose them from my box in those situations. In slower waters I’ll “drift and twitch” winged wets, both smooth bodied and palmered bodied versions
(i.e. Jerry Madiddler for a smooth bodied
or an Invicta as a palmered
)
Twitching these imparts the motion that tumbling in the faster current would otherwise do for you. It should cause the beard (or collar hackle) to pulse slightly, same with the palmered hackle. This helps to create the illusion of something struggleing in the slower water, something alive, something to eat!
Anyway, the above is what I tend to do, not necessarily what I always do nor what is necessarily the best thing to do. I do know it works for me (most times), and the above is why I think the various techniques work for me. I could be, and often am, wrong. I do know that there are people who fish the same water I fish but do it in an entirely different way, and they also catch fish, and sometimes they catch more fish than I do, and sometimes I catch more than they do.
Generally, it often comes down to a self fulling proficy. If I think this fly will work, then I will tie it on and if I think a fly won’t work, I won’t tie it on. Then, if I catch a fish, I think “See, I knew this was the right one and that the other wouldn’t work!” Of course, how do I know the other one wouldn’t have caught the same fish, or maybe even the bigger one? Every fly you tie on is a lost oppertunity for every fly still in your box!
