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| RIO's How to Fish a Soft Hackle |
Simon makes a great statement in this video regarding how easy it is to soft hackle fish and yet you can make it as technical as you want. If performing on a single hand rod it can also play as a precursor leading to trout spey in the idea of swinging flies downstream.
What gear do you need:
If I covered all the possibilities of gear choices it would make this article way to long to want to read. While you could swing a soft hackle with any trout rod there are some choices that would make this technique more fun and productive. A good 10' 4 weight would be hard to beat. A rod like the Sage X Simon is fishing is an excellent choice.
The fly line is probably the key importance to this fishing. RIO's Single Hand Spey is an excellent choice but even better today is the Single Hand Spey 3D version. This intermediate tip version breaks the water tension and keeps more contact with your flies. The intermediate tip section tapers into a hover section that leads into the rest of the line which is floating. In addition to better fly contact the line also provides a more solid anchor for single hand spey cast. One note about the Single Hand Spey lines is they also cast overhead beautifully.
RIO Suppleflex Leaders and Tippet will take care of the fly connection equation. The only thing I would add is the Tippet Rings. These little rings make rigging easier but also adds some dimension to your two fly setup.
A selection of soft hackle flies does not have to be complicated and can very likely include some nymph bugs you may already have. I like to mix my rigs up with a bead head fly on the dropper leader and non-weighted soft hackle fly on a longer tippet. With this setup I can get a gauge on what the fish prefer very quickly and adjust my flies accordingly.
A revelation I came to when just starting out soft hackle fishing is I often found myself catching fish in water that many anglers ignored or just boated quickly through while indicator fishing. These areas I could take my time, slow down and in many cases found some of my best catches.
Warning: Soft hackle fishing can be addicting and serious anglers will most likely lead to the two hand rods specifically with modern offerings such as the little Sage Trout Spey 1 or 2 weight. With modern lines and modern rods spey techniques can easily be learned and the longer rod provides many benefits in casting as well as landing your catch.
The possibilities in soft hackle fishing are endless yet the overall idea can remain fairly simple. It's a relaxing technique for the wade angler and can provide success in a variety of water types and conditions.
Greg the Dirty Angler
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