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| This is how it started! |
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| The only fly I tied on all afternoon. It caught, and caught, and caught. |
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| Even some "Bows today. |
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| Glass smooth downstream presentations with the wind blowing down. |
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| The "PHD" channel was challenging. Cloud cover let it happen. |
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| "Splashdown" rock even yielded a fish or two |
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| This flat boiled whenever the wind stopped |
I prefer the clipped hackle version because its quicker/easier to tie than a parachute, and more sparse. No post is required , and I don't think upright posts are that important anyway. Just fun and easy to see, but I like the sparser tie. Most any Catskill style fly can be made better with a haircut. I also think a clipped hackle better represents the impression of legs on the surface. Maybe nit-picking, but wait, there's more! I'm also gravitating to softer hackle than rooster hackle. Most of the flies I'm gravitating to will use partridge or CDC instead of rooster necks. Real bug legs are not stiff. (Nor are the tails!) They are soft, and they move. I'm looking at every fly I have with rooster hackle, and saying to myself, it would be better with partridge or CDC. More alive. More lifelike. So I'm substituting soft feathers in place of rooster. Work in progress. The exception is the spinner, where the hackle makes a wing impression/silouette. That clipped hackle PMD/Rusty is simple and deadly.
ReplyDeleteAnd hackle stackers? Nope. I might buy some, but I really don't see any attraction or advantage.