Soft Hackle Dry Fly

Here is a different twist on an old favorite the Soft Hackle Dry Fly.  This fly uses clear 1/8 inch polyolefin heat shrink to add an air bubble to the fly shank thus improving the buoyancy to some degree.

Hook Size 8 thu 16 1x Fine 3-4x Long

1.  Wrap the hook shank with thread - In this case metallic blue
2.  Tie in the tail material
3.  Cut off the excess
4.  Slip on the 1/8 inch polyolefin heat shrink
5.  Position on the shank
6.  Shrink the rear portion of the heat shrink approximately half way up the shank using a 15 watt soldering iron
7.  Wrap the shrunk portion of the heat shrink with the thread
8.  Whip finish and cut and seal with head cement or super glue
9.  Shrink the heat shrink just behind the hook eye
10.  Wrap the head with the thread
11.  Tie in a hackle feather
12.  Wrap and tie off the feather trimming excess seal with head cement or super glue

Aero Fly

Aero Fly a Perfect Spinner Fly

As we all know spinners or spent flies attract numerous trout to the surface.  That’s why some of us are always looking for a spinner that will present a profile on the water unlike traditional spinner flies but just unique enough to make it stand out from the crowd.  With this in mind I stared to experiment using different wing designs and body materials.  What I ended up with is what I called the Aero Fly.

The Aero Fly does not have a traditional body and the wings form a fighter jet type of appearance thus the name.  The body is 1/8 inch natural latex tubing although one can use a cream colored dubbing to achieve the same appearance.  I used latex tubing for the color, the specific gravity of .94 to .95 and the fact that air can be trapped inside to ad to the buoyancy.  It also has the advantage of not impeding the hook gap that a wrapped dubbing can sometimes do. 

 

It is actually a fairly simple fly.  The steps are as follows:

Hook – Size 8 to 16, 3 or 4x long with a light wire wrapped with Brown 6/0 thread

Legs – Brown rubber tied in on sides of the 1/3 down hook shank behind the eye

Antenna – Brown mono inserted in the 1/8 inch natural latex tubing (Max 10#)

Body – Natural latex shank length tied in tightly compressing it at leg tie in point

Wing – Iridescent web wing type material tied in at the same point

Wing Post – White Polypropylene

Wing Finish – White Saddle feather tied parachute style 5 to 8 wraps

Tail  -  Optional (Not Shown) two mono fibers

Finish with a drop of head cement or super glue at the eye and on the end of the latex tubing (if used) to seal in the air.  This fly also works well by its self as a good imitator of a PMD

Yellow Sally - Golden Stone

The materials are as follows:

Hook – size 16 – 12 any brand 4-6x long with as light of wire as possible (Yellow Sally)

            size 8 – 14 (Golden Stone)

Thread - yellow and metallic orange

Body – 1/8 inch natural latex tubing

Wing – clear web wing material with black netting (see how to make at                                  https://unsinkableflies.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-fly-wing-material-fly-tying.html)

Antenna & Tail – brown monofilament

Legs - brown rubber

Collar - grizzly saddle

 

Directions:

1. Wrap the hook shank with yellow thread.
2. Form the tails and antenna by tying in one section of 15# brown monofilament to one side of hook shank
3. Repeat step two on the other side of the hook shank leaving the thread at the rear of the shank
4. Slide the 1/8 inch latex over the mono antenna and hook shank
5. Tie in the latex at the rear of the hook shank with the thread
6. Work the thread approximately 1/3 up the shank and tie in the rear legs
7. To the front of the rear legs use the orange metallic thread to form the egg sack (Optional Golden Stone)
8. Tie in front legs to one side of the hook shank
9. Tie in the other legs to the opposite side of the hook shank
10. Tie in the wing just behind the hook eye
11. Tie in the saddle feather
12. Wrap the saddle feather 3 to 5 times and tie off
13. Side view finished fly – Note you may need to trim the legs, antenna, and tails
14. Top view finished fly