Soft Hackle Flies: the bodies

The Classic Soft Hackle Fly Body, Pearsall Silk

Pearsall Gossamer Silk is the perfect material for soft hackle fly bodies. It’s been around for hundreds of years. There is an established tradition to read about and fall back on. With the twenty-three or so colors you can match most body colors. In fact you can combine a soft hackle feather and a body of any of the silk colors and probably catch fish. If you want to match the hatch, you can do that also. These threads are amazing.

Gossamer silk is roughly a 6-0 thread that is easy to wrap. You can spin the spool to tighten the silk to make a more segmented look. Or you can unwind the thread to make it lay flat  and smooth. When wet, the silk will darken as I showed in an early post on this blog. When try a new color, be sure to try wetting the fly to be sure you like the results.

You can’t go wrong with Pearsall Gossamer Silk on your soft hackle flies. But that is far from the only body material you can use. I’ve already posted about a pheasant tail soft hackle, hare’s ear soft hackle, crystal flash baetis soft hackle, and even that is just a few of the possibilities. Go crazy. Use any body material you want. Try a biot or quill body. Peacock will always catch fish, so try a herl body soft hackle. Once you wrap a soft hackle feather around a fly, you will be a believer for life. It is amazing the life the feather brings to the fly.

Below are examples of soft hackle flies with a variety of bodies. Go tie some soft hackles and fish soft hackle flies!

Olive Biot Soft Hackle

Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle

Caddis Green Soft Hackle

Partridge and Green Soft Hackle