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Tungsten Bead Soft Hackle

By Dennis Potter

The history of tying and fishing wet flies is long and rich. How long flies were fished sub-surface before the advent of the dry fly will never be known. With the introduction of fabulous dry fly hackle over the past 30 years and the renaissance of modern fly fishing in the 1970’s, “swinging wet flies” lost some popularity but has since regained and maintained a significant following of dedicated anglers.

Typically the wet fly, in this case specifically the unweighted soft hackle, is cast across and down stream and allowed to swing in the current. This technique invariably keeps the fly close to or in the surface film. It can be a productive searching technique. To thoroughly cover a given stretch of water, the angler must fish slowly and deliberately. Cast and swing, while mending line to control the speed of the fly dragging in the water is the common approach. A noted soft hackle angler often fished the AuSable North Branch in northern Michigan, counting fish and justifiably bragging of catches of over fifty trout. The problem with most of that water is the fish are small, mostly under eight inches. The shallow, fast water holds few larger fish. Most fish taken on soft hackles are closer to shore and tend to be on the smaller side. Not that I have “big fish syndrome” but catching scads of little fish can get a little old.

Take note, the deeper you fish your wet fly, the fewer fish you will catch, but the size of the fish increases dramatically. How does one get their wet fly down? Weight it!

I am a big believer in tungsten beads when it comes to bead head flies. Twice the weight of brass beads, the tungsten beaded flies will get your flies down to where you want them, fast. That is the name of the game. With a little creative mending and line control, the fly angler can easily fish a tungsten bead soft hackle several feet deep in all but the fastest current.

Still casting across and down, an up-stream mend slows the progression of drag and lets the fly sink. To get it moving in the current, simply mend down-stream. During a drift with a tungsten bead soft hackle as with any wet fly, I make several mini mends both up and down to control the speed of the fly in the water.

This fly is a great producer all year. So many of the aquatic critters that trout eat are darker than lighter in coloration.

This a down-right buggy looking fly. The fish love it.