The Soft Hackle Streamer Revisited
By Joel Anderson
The late Jack Gartside left a legacy of fly patterns that will serve fly fishermen well until the end of time. While the list contains such great flies as the Sparrow Nymph, Gartside Gurgler, and Gartside Hopper, perhaps the most well-known and innovative of all his creations might just be the Soft Hackle Streamer. In hindsight, a few earlier lessons on how to tie this pattern correctly would have benefitted me greatly and perhaps caused me to fish the fly more often through the years. However, a recent revisit to the SHS, as well as a serendipitous occurrence, has once again open my eyes to the genius of this simplistic, yet incredibly elegant and effective streamer. Here's a few lessons learned from both personal experience and directly from Gartside’s website that I have found helpful.
Hook: For freshwater, THE hook for the SHS is Mustad's 3366, a very inexpensive (nice change there) ring-eyed hook that sharpens well and provides great hooking ability without the leverage provided to the fish by conventional long-shank streamer hooks. The end result is fewer lost fish. I used to tie this pattern with a size 4 hook. The serendipitous occurrence mentioned above was that I ran out of size 4 hooks recently and was forced to use size 6. Turns outs the fly casts and moves through the water much better when tied on the smaller hook. Win, win. The smaller hook gap also is less likely to cause injury to smaller fish.
Tail Flash: Use Flashabou, not Crystal Flash, for the tail flash fibers. Flashabou has the perfect consistency to provide the desired effect (flash and movement) on this pattern. Don’t overdo it; four or five strands are plenty. The Flashabou should be tied in at mid-shank and extend to the end of the marabou wing.
Marabou: When I first started tying this pattern, I used to use two full marabou blood feathers, and I tied them in by the tip at the hook bend. Wrong, wrong, and wrong! According to Gartside, a single marabou blood feather should be tied in at mid shank by the butt end. Use only top quality blood feathers and strip all the fibers on the butt end of the stem to the point where the stem starts to get thin. I usually end of using 1/2 to 2/3rds of the feather. Open spiral the feather forward so not to bind down any marabou fibers. As with most areas of fly tying, sparseness is much better than fullness.
Collar: Again find the point in the flank feather where the stem starts to thin down. Once again, according to Gartside, the feather should be tied in by the butt end, not the tip end. Two turns is just about right. The fibers should extend back 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the marabou. Sometimes I crush the stems of the marabou and flank feathers with flat nosed pliers to make them more pliable.
Head: I used to tie my SHS with a large head to accommodate a painted eye. However, with the last batch I tied recently, I opted for a very small thread head and the more aerodynamic shape accounted for much better movement in the water. It also lends a more elegant appearance to the fly, in my opinion.
Another thing I’ve found to be critical is that the fly must be tethered to the leader with an open loop knot, such as a “Duncan Loop”, otherwise it will not move properly through the water. I know right away when my loop knot has cinched up because my streamer will start to wake on the surface. I like 2 or 3X fluorocarbon for a tippet, the lightest that will effectively turn this fly over.
As for where and how to fish the SHS, while the fly is likely to invoke strikes from almost anywhere, my favorite lies are the tailouts of large pools. The aggressive strikes to fast stripped SHS can really get your heart pumping and the visual effect is very cool It’s also a great locator pattern as often times fish will roll, but not actually take the streamer. Later you can go back and fish confidently with a nymph or soft hackle wetfly, knowing full well you have a “player”.
In the age where more and more complex streamer flies seem to be the rule, it's nice to know that one five minute pattern concocted with three materials (four if you count thread) can hold its own with the best of them.