Soft Hackle vs Wet Fly: A river guide to the family

A soft hackle is a kind of wet fly, but the terms aren’t always used the same way. In a useful framework popularized by fly-tying writer Dave Hughes, traditional wet flies include soft hackles, winged wets and wingless wets. The groups overlap, especially when a wingless wet has a soft hackle collar.

Ask Connecticut wet-fly guide and author Steve Culton to explain the distinction, and he reaches for biology: “All dolphins are mammals, but not all mammals are dolphins. All soft hackles are wet flies, but not all wet flies are soft hackles.”

The terms get used interchangeably in fly bins and forum threads, and that’s where the confusion starts. A quick look at the patterns’ features and fishing styles makes it easier to choose what to tie and understand how to fish it.

In the broadest sense, a wet fly is any fly fished below the surface. Anglers may fish one on a dead drift or swing it through the current. Traditional wet-fly patterns are often lightly dressed, but wet flies can also be weighted or fished with added weight when conditions call for it.

Wet flies can suggest emerging or drowned insects, nymphs and other subsurface prey. Some are designed to imitate a particular insect; others are attractor patterns. They’re often fished near the surface, but they can be presented deeper with a weighted fly, split shot or a change in line and mending.

Some anglers use “wet fly” as a broad term for flies fished below the surface, while others use it for traditional patterns such as soft hackles and winged wets. The terminology varies, so it helps to look at the pattern and how it’s being fished.

Soft-hackle patterns have a long association with northern England, where many traditional patterns are known as North Country spiders. The Partridge and Orange, Snipe and Purple, and Waterhen Bloa are familiar examples.

A classic spider is sparse:

• Body: Very thin, often tying silk, sometimes with a small amount of fur.
• Hackle: Usually one or two turns of a soft game-bird feather at the head.
• Tail: Often omitted, though some patterns include one.

“Really sparse, really elegant, but really impressionistic, and absolutely deadly,” is how Culton describes them. In moving water, the soft fibers are free to move around the body. That motion gives the fly a lively, impressionistic profile.

Winged wets are a familiar part of the American fly-tying tradition. Patterns such as the Leadwing Coachman and Parmachene Belle have a swept-back wing over a fuller body, often with hackle at the throat. Traditionally, the wing might be made from paired slips of duck or goose quill.

The wing gives the fly a more defined silhouette than a sparse spider. Some winged wets suggest drowned or emerging insects; others, including many brightly dressed patterns, are tied primarily as attractors.

Pennsylvania tyer James Leisenring’s The Art of Tying the Wet Fly was published in 1941. His wingless patterns often used a fur body spun onto waxed silk, with a soft hackle at the head.

Leisenring also described a presentation now known as the Leisenring Lift: as the fly reaches the end of its drift, the angler allows it to rise toward the surface. The presentation can suggest an insect moving upward through the water.

Leisenring’s protégé Vern Hidy later coined the term “flymph” for a style of fly fished in the film or just below it. The term is still used by some anglers. Culton prefers “wingless wets”: “The most unfortunate noun in the English language. Vern, wherever you are, I love you. I respect the hell out of you. I will never call them flymphs.”

The categories aren’t strict. Many wingless wets have soft hackles, so they can also be described as soft-hackle flies. A North Country spider is one especially sparse style; a Leisenring-style fly usually has a fuller fur body.

Hungarian partridge is a traditional choice for soft-hackle collars. Hen, starling, grouse and snipe are also used. J. Stockard’s Premium Hungarian Partridge Feathers are one option; browse the hackle and feathers collection for other choices.

Keep the collar sparse. One or two turns are common on a classic spider. A dense collar changes the profile and leaves less room for the fibers to move.

For many trout patterns, a standard wet-fly hook in sizes 12 to 18 is a useful starting range; match the hook to the pattern and local insects. See our fly-hook collection.

You don’t need a bead on every pattern. Culton often fishes an unweighted team, but may add a bead to the point fly when he wants to get deeper. Mending the line can also help control the drift and depth.

If you’re tying your first wet fly, a simple soft hackle is a good place to start. It uses few materials and gives you practice handling a soft feather.

Ask Culton for one pattern and he doesn’t hesitate: “The Pheasant Tail of wet fly fishing is the soft-hackled Pheasant Tail.” A pheasant-tail body with a partridge collar is a useful pattern to have in the box. For a related soft-hackle recipe, check out this Sulphur Soft Hackle fly recipe.

Once you have one pattern tied, try a Partridge and Orange or Partridge and Green for a different color profile. Winged wets are another option when you’re ready to work with quill wings.

Wet flies can be fished in different ways: dead-drifted, swung across the current or lifted at the end of a drift. A soft hackle or wingless wet can be useful when fish are feeding below the surface, including during an emergence, but the best presentation depends on where the fish are holding and what they’re eating.

Culton uses a rise-form rule of thumb from a Delaware River guide friend: “No white, no bubble, no dry.” The absence of a visible mouth or bubble can be a clue that a trout took something below the surface, but it isn’t a sure way to identify what the fish ate.

Some anglers fish a team of two or three wet flies, swung down and across. Culton spaces his flies roughly six feet apart. Follow local regulations on the number of flies you can use, and adjust the spacing and setup to suit the water. As Culton puts it, “Unlike people, fish will always tell you the truth.”

Soft hackles and other wet flies still earn a place in a trout box. Tie a few sparse patterns, fish them where trout are feeding below the surface, and vary the drift until you find what works.

Stock up on partridge, hen and tying thread in our hackle and feathers collection and thread collection.