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