Fly Tying: Tweaking the Soft Hackles

Yellow Mayfly Emerger Soft Hackle

Hook: scud hook 1X short #12

Thread: yellow

Tail: wood duck flank feathers

Body: golden brown ice dub

Rib: gold wire

Thorax: peacock herl

Hackle: brown partridge

This is a larger and heavier version of the Yellow and Quail--with a tail.

The addition of a tail firmly establishes it in the tradition of mayfly

emerger patterns. The larger size brings it into the range

of mid-sized mayflies, more and more of which are appearing 

on Rocky Ford. On the last trip to Rocky Ford I was attracting fish

with a brisk strip of the smaller Yellow and Quail. I am anticipating

 even more enthusiastic attention with this fly. Time will tell.

Rocky Ford Creek Report: The Last Fish of Winter

Winter has retreated to the high country. There it will make its last stand.

Down along the creek it's already spring even if the calendar says it's winter for one more day.

You've brought your new ties, and over the afternoon each pattern--PMD, Lady McConnell, and Adams variant--brings trout to the net.

You bring one in on a black humpy and discover a nice little mayfly tie broken off in the corner of its jaw.

The afternoon goes from breezy to breezier, in the great tradition of March. The pelicans sail over now and then tilting like kites.

The best fly of the afternoon is the little yellow and quail soft hackle. You trail it in the meniscus behind a high-floating stimulator for awhile.

The sun angles lower. On the last trip, this was the time for a lively evening rise. This time the fish stay down.

You change tactics and present the soft hackle with a brisk strip. It works.

It's on the strip that you catch the last fish of the day and the last fish of winter.

You get home and the moon has a halo around it. Looks like a change in the weather.

Rocky Ford Creek Report: Satisfied

Off over the flats under a decidedly spring sky.

Past the greening hillside to the water.

Another breezy, beautiful day at Rocky Ford.

The Lady, twitched seductively through the riffles, brings in the first fish.

Another fish is hooked and quickly lost. You check the fly: slightly bent. You straighten it. A third fish comes to the Lady and is hooked. It's a heavy fish, and fights hard. You have him three feet from the net when he comes off. You check the fly again: no wonder. Not worth straightening again.

You consign it to the deep.

Humpy time. The fish chase it. One chunky fish takes it.

The clouds cast shadows, the wind paints patterns on the water.

You go to a yellow and quail soft hackle and get a taker on a slow retrieve.

So you hang the soft hackle under an indicator and let it drift.

The indicator slips out of sight and you come up on a very good fish. You play it carefully and get it in the net--barely. This is the biggest fish of the year, maybe the biggest you've taken at Rocky Ford. You get one photo and the fish twists out of the net. You tail it and try to net it again--no go. He's gone.

The sun angles lower and gilds the ridge. The wind backs off. Mayflies flitter in the air and glint on the surface. The fish come alive.

You have the skinny tippet but you don't have the right fly.

You have a small yellow humpy, and that's close enough for one fish.

Dusk comes and the fish slow down. You tie on your new stimulator and get a few bumps, but no one's eating it. Everyone seems to be satisfied.

And so are you.