It was a good run.
If I had had the wherewithal to continue posting through January 2018, Soft Hackles, Tight Lines would have been in operation for four-and-a-half years. My first posting was 3 June 2013. On the whole, the blog has included 110 posts with 106 devoted to a historical account of specific, related dressings, comprising almost 50,000 words and 166 photos of flies I have tied to represent those dressings and, quite often, their variations. While there are many more of flies that deserve to be researched, written up, and tied, the blog has come to occupy more time than I can devote to it now.
It has been a labor of love.
I very much appreciate the readers I have had throughout this project, from the outset to the eleventh hour. A few of my favorite posts are still available at the following links:
Gray Hackle Peacock Dark Snipe and Green
Blue Partridge Stone Fly
I cannot resist listing some my favorite patterns for fishing on my homewaters in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in wide tailraces or the Great Smoky Mountains and the pasture streams of the New River Valley. I have not tried to name the originators of the pattern, only my sources. My additions or alternative materials are listed in parentheses.
A Baker's Dozen:
Blue Partridge Stone Fly
I cannot resist listing some my favorite patterns for fishing on my homewaters in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in wide tailraces or the Great Smoky Mountains and the pasture streams of the New River Valley. I have not tried to name the originators of the pattern, only my sources. My additions or alternative materials are listed in parentheses.
A Baker's Dozen:
1. Dark
Snipe and Purple - Lakeland, Brumfitt, Pritt
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Hook:
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16-18
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Silk:
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Purple
silk
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(Rib:
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Extra
small wine colored wire, optional)
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Body:
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Tying silk
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Hackle:
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Snipe
covert (or smoky dun starling rump)
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2. Waterhen
Bloa - Pritt, Edmonds and Lee
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Hook:
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14-16
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Silk:
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Yellow
silk
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Body:
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Muskrat or mole dubbed thinly on tying silk so that tying silk shows through distinctly
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Hackle:
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Waterhen
undercovert (coot undercovert)
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3. Iron
Blue Dun - Hidy
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Hook:
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14-18
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Silk:
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Red silk
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(Rib:
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Extra
small wine colored wire, optional)
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Body:
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Dark mole
fur spun on red silk to form a taper toward the hackle, with two or three
turns exposed at the tail
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Hackle:
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Starling
(smoky dun starling rump or crow covert)
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4. March
Brown - Nemes
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Hook:
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10-14
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Silk:
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Orange silk
(or yellow)
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Tail:
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Brown
Partridge (optional)
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Rib:
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Extra
small flat gold tinsel (or medium gold wire)
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Body:
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Hare’s
mask mixed with hare’s ear (or brownish rabbit shoulder mixed with hare’s
mask)
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Hackle:
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Brown
partridge (two-and-half turns, so that slightly more hackle is situated on top of the
hook shank, the vaguest suggestion of winging)
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5. Pheasant
Tail - Nemes
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Hook:
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16-22
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Silk:
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Dark brown
thread (burnt orange, olive dun,
purple, etc. - matched to the thorax)
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Tail:
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Pheasant
tail tips, optional
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Rib:
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Extra
small copper wire (or gold, with olive thread)
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Body:
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Pheasant
tail
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(Thorax:
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Sulfur,
olive, purple, etc. superfine dubbing - matched to the thread)
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Hackle:
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Brown
partridge
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6. Light
Snipe and Yellow - Leisenring
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Hook:
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14-16
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Silk:
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Primrose
thread
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Rib:
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Small gold
wire
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Body:
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Primrose silk
buttonhole twist (Coats and Clark’s 72-A baby yellow, size D, for preference)
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Hackle:
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Snipe
undercovert
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7. Black
Spider - Baillie, Stewart
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Hook:
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16-20
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Thread:
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Dark brown
thread
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Body/
Hackle:
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Starling
twisted on brown silk and palmered toward the eye of the hook (or waxed red or claret silk)
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8. Grouse
and Orange - Woolley, Nemes
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Hook:
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12-18
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Silk:
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Orange
silk
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Body:
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Tying silk
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Thorax:
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Dark
hare’s ear, optional (Nemes’ addition)
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Hackle:
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Speckled-brown
red grouse covert
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Tip:
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Flat gold
tinsel, optional (popular in earlier incarnations of the pattern)
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9. Brown or Gray
Hackle - Leisenring
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Hook:
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10-16
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Silk:
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Wine silk (or wine thread) or primrose
silk (or primrose thread)
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Rib:
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Extra
small flat gold tinsel, slightly tipping the herl body
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Body:
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Bronzy
peacock herl
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Hackle:
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Red furnace or pale
ginger furnace - matched to the corresponding silk/thread color
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10. Orange
Flie - Cotton
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Hook:
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14-18
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Silk:
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Orange
silk (or gold)
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Body:
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Orange
wool (burnt orange angora goat)
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Hackle:
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Black
hackle (webby American crow neck or, for different parts of the season, starling back, nearer the rump)
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11. Rough-Bodied
Poult - Edmonds and Lee
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Hook:
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14-18
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Silk:
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Primrose
silk
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Body:
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Buff
opossum fur dubbed thinly on tying silk so that tying silk shows through
distinctly
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Hackle:
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Young
grouse undercovert (bobwhite quail undercovert or, for a lighter fly,
mourning dove undercovert)
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12. Red
Fox Squirrel Nymph - Whitlock
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Hook:
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8-16
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Silk:
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Orange
thread
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Tail:
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Red fox
squirrel back fur, optional
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Rib:
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Gold twist
(medium gold wire or small flat gold tinsel)
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Abdomen:
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Red fox
squirrel belly fur
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Thorax:
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Red fox
squirrel back fur
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Hackle:
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Brown
speckled hen, mottled red grouse covert, or brown partridge back
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13. Gray
Hackle Red - Hughes
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Hook:
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10-16
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Thread:
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Black
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Tip:
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Small flat
gold tinsel
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Tail:
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Bright,
dyed-red hackle fibers
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(Rib:
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Extra
small copper wire, reverse-ribbed)
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Body:
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Bronzy
peacock herl
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Hackle:
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Stiffer, darker grizzly
hen (two turns, no longer than the gold tip)
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