Hard bodied flies vs soft

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

Do you think the hardness or softness of a fly it is a significant factor in hook ups?

I guess maybe small dries …no

but what about there rest…especially subsurface???

For example, if you use a glass bead fly vs a dubbed fly …foam…etc…do you think the hookups would be the same…better…worse…

Seems like even if a glass beaded one looks great …perhaps the fish would spit it out often before you even knew it…

2

Duckster,

Personally, I have no opinion because the trout won’t tell me when they look at the menu. However, in the video by Lee Wulff, ‘Lee Wulff Fishing The Beaverkill’, he does talk about this as he ties a soft bodied nymph. Apparently he believed there was a difference and it favored the soft body.

Deezel

3

I catch fish on both types of flies subsurface. I don’t see any difference, but that may just be that I don’t detect it.

Rick

4

Many of the things fish eat are not soft.

Keith

5
  1. most things fish eat are soft. For example Nymphs , minnows aquatic worms. Therefore its makes common cents that a soft fly would have a better chance to to fool a fish for a second longer than a hard fly.
    I do not know of any scientific studies on the subject. I do believe softer materials that have some movement do abetter job of suggesting life.
    there are also other factors at play here. For example trout or any fish in faster moving water do not have as long so study our fakes as those fish that live in stillwaters.
6

ducksterman,
From my experience fly fishing still water, I would say a Gold Bead Hare’s Ear can be deadly, because of the Gold Bead’s attraction to the fish. The bead also sinks the fly. I have never fished a Glass Bead fly. I’m a fan of flies with loose dubbing like the Soft Hackle HE because the fish strike it even after it starts to get beat up.
I recall seeing a photo of a fly that used glass beads, but it was mixed with dubbing in between the beads.
Doug

7

My personal opinion only is:

I do feel the beadhead whether it is metal, plastic, glass, etc. affects hook-ups and I think that they affect the long and short distance releases. I do not tie very many flies with any beads. I prefer to weight my flies under the body material. I feel that a bead up front affects the hook up when you set the hook in that when the fish feels the pull it opens it’s mouth and as the fly comes out, the bead keeps the hook from catching the corner of the mouth. I also feel the weight of a beadhead assists the fish in the fight by giving the fish something to help dislodge the hook, while it is doing the “head shake” especially if the bead is on the outside of the fish and not down in it’s mouth.

Just my thoughts and opinions…

8

I don’t think that large nymphs (eg stonefly, dobsonfly), cased caddis, crayfish are all that soft. Soft materials may give the advantage of movement but doubt that beadheads, stiff feathers, plastic shellbacks, etc make a huge difference. Also, fish are used to sucking in other materials along with the “food”. The most important thing (IMHO) is whether the materials increase the likelihood of the fish actually putting the fly in it’s mouth in the first place.
Keith

9

I don’t really think it matters what the fly is dressed with, most of the fish I encounter don’t spend much time foolin’ around before they spit it out. Truth is, I’d say, you gotta be on your game to get a hookup the vast majority of the time. I agree, though, especially on smaller hooks, the bead can give the fish a leverage point to work with, especially on those awesome head shakes. Me… I use beads, no beads, weighted bodies, no weight, and all points in between at one time or another. I have found beadhead nymphs to be very much to trout and steelhead’s liking. I often have one on for the first cast of the day, and sometimes leave it there a good while before I change even if I don’t get any takers right off. As for soft vs. hard…Trout and Steelhead both eat things that are hard and soft, feel is just one thing they use to decide ifit’s what they thought it was. …ModocDan

10

You have to promise not to tell anyone but I tried a little experiment this summer. I fished a stream that i know pretty well and alternated between using standard nymphs (mainly pheasant tails and hare’s ears) and some soft plastic “nymphs”. Now you see why I have to keep this a secret - the fly fishermen will kick me out for using bass lures and the bass fishermen will attack me for using a fly rod. Anyway, now that you promised not to tell - there was no question. The trout would grab and hold the soft plastic much longer than the nymph. I could see it and I could feel it. So this was one day and the study has no statistical significance, but I was surprised by the difference. I think the extrapolation is that the trout hold a soft chewy fly longer than a hard fly.

Also I remember some author making the point that a fuzzy fly will tend to get tangles in the teeth of the trout and take a second longer for the fish to spit it out thus increasing the odds of a hookup. I can not remember the author right this minute but it seemed logical.

David

11

The soft plastic wasn’t made from Gulp was it? 8)

12

While it’s not a fly a spoon which has caught a many of fish are not soft at all. Also jig heads are hard and it doesn’t seem to hurt them either.

However I think probably you have more time maybe to set the hook if it’s soft, but I have nothing really to back that up.

Skip

13

It’s natural to want a better mouse trap but peacock and hare’s mask are perfect materials, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! A gold bead at the head of a Hare’s Ear nymph, seemed to get Brown trout’s attention, maybe the bead sunk the fly so it hit them in the nose.
Doug

14

So here is why I asked…Relative to the other thread where we were discussing blood worms…

I’m wondering if this beaded bloodworm…which has nice segmentation and red color [despite the picture which doesn’t do the red justice]… would work as well as other soft ones?

15

Duckster - Let us know what you find out. I know I’m curious.

16

OK…it will depend on the weather…Oregon is in the process of getting wet :shock: