I’m sure most of you have seen reference to the passing of Sylvester Nemes earlier this week, author of The Soft-Hackled Fly and The Soft-Hackled Fly: A Trout Fisherman’s Guide.
I attribute much more to the man than most, as he appeared at exactly the right time and rescued fly fishing from a fate worse than death.
We were headed down the Dark Path, it was the ascension of Swisher & Richards, Caucci & Natasi, and the dawn of man-made synthetics. Fly fishing had jumped its historic banks and was destined to evolve into leg counting, the correct number of feelers, and making waxy-stiff imitations that were anatomically correct, but hamstrung the artist and lent imitations as much comely as an inflatable love doll. Legitimacy was to say something in Latin rather than English, and authors insisted we cast out the false prophets like Ted Williams, Joe Brooks, and Ray Bergman along with the rest of the baggage.
Sylvester Nemes was a much needed counter to all this sudden religious fervor, as the only mystery that Latin couldn’t dismiss was why precise imitation failed to outfish something made of dog hair and owl feathers.
… and to lend credence to this odd duck, on his heels came the second British invasion, authors and fishermen like Goddard & Clarke and Frank Sawyer suggesting that a bit of ambiguity could be as powerful as precisely knotted legs or a shiny carapace.
We all breathed a bit easier after that …
I had the good sense to know something horrible was wrong given the porcupine quills needed for “new wave precision” stonefly nymphs kept finding my fingers at regular intervals. Up till now fly tying had never been painful – unless I was showing my flies to others.
You won’t see many describing similar attributes to Mr. Nemes, like double-knits, most of us aren’t man enough to admit wearing them. We were caught up in the book burnings and New Entomology, and we didn’t realize how close we’d come to plastic insects and turning our beloved sport into something of complete snobbery.
several years ago i became trapped into a vacation east of the missouri. a nightmare of epic proportions.
we spent an evening in carlisle,pa. in the morning my wife and one of the boys went to experience the delights of hershey, while my oldest son and i decided to fish the letort. if you have to be there you might as well have fun, right?
we went to a shop downtown to pick up a tag and some advice. the tag came with a nice plastic wallet to pin on my vest. the advice was to go somewhere else to fish since apparently we didn’t have the requisite qualities to fish the nirvana of troutness.
being contrary by nature we went to the letort anyway. a steady drizzle, small browns under the bridge, DEEP. tied on a march brown soft hackle cast it out with a lot slack, fed it under the bridge…BOOM… a carp!! it broke off in the shallows. not nearly enough tippet.
that’s how i remember nemes and his book.
the neat thing is that i heard they put a walmart up the hill from where i took the carp.
talk about kharmic symmetry.
Different Craig here. Soft hackles are the go-to choice during a caddis hatch, but what’s amazing is how many times a small soft hackle saves the day even when caddis are not around. Fun to tie, fun to fish. Hail Leisenring and Nemes.
I found out, after reading Neme’s book, that he and I both learned to fly fish on the same northeastern Ohio river.
I used to fish “spiders” a lot but four or five times in the last week I have heard soft hackles being described as caddis imitations as Craig does above. I thought that spiders/soft hackles were a catch all imitating anything from midges (small dark spiders) through mayflies (Waterhen bloa, greenwells spider, iron blue spider, the Lug series etc) to caddis and heaven knows what in between. Is there a distinction between spiders and soft hackles that I have missed?
I must get Nemes’ book.
There’s just something about soft hackled flies eh? For low water steelhead, sparse spider patterns on the swing are deadly. S’funny, but being a completely self taught fly tier I once thought that I had invented the soft hackle…Then in ’98 I was guiding a Brit on the Agulawak and mentioned that I had invented the end-all be-all of nymph patterns. After showing him my box of flies, he said “really?” in this urbane tone of voice. He then showed me a fly wallet with about twenty dozen soft hackles of various patterns in it. I was crushed.
Eccles, I think a spider/soft hackle is what you make of it. I fish them on a tight line as a rising caddis, dead drift them as may flies, midges and stones, or tie ’em big and swing ’em for steel. ALL my nymphs, regardless of pattern are tied as soft hackles. No legs, wing cases, eyeballs or arse holes…
I’m inclined to agree with Trout Chaser, great searching pattern for many species. Swung, high-stuck, big, small, you simply can’t go wrong.
KB, I’m in agreement with you, trout chaser and Eccles. It matters not if one ties on a classic three, an emerger and a dropper, or an indicator and a dropper, soft hackles are catchers no matter how they are fished.
I have been frustrated on one thing. What is a Waterhen? Can we get these feathers in the US?
John Peipon,
Waterhen was the old name for a Moorhen. For the bloa series they use these gorgeous, dense spoon shape feathers, can’t remember from where on the bird they come now. The equivalent from a Coot are very nice feathers for spiders too. Don’t know about their availability over here.
Eccles
I’ve always considered moorhens a member of the coot family, but like all critters, even if it was the same bird their colors would differ based on distance and geography.
I don’t remember them being protected, perhaps they can be purchased from a UK shop.
UPDATE: They are sold commonly, see the below:
http://www.meadowfishery.com/prods/275.html
http://www.lathkill.com/shop/index.php?productID=913
The top link mentions using Coot as a substitute.
You’ll be pleased to know that in the U.S. the limit on the coot (a.k.a. Moorhen) is VERY generous to the fly tier. It ranges from 15 per day (Ohio) to 25 per day (California) and breast-of-coot is gourmet dining. Wonderful little bird, that keeps you company on “bluebird days,” when nothing else is stirring.
I thought most of the game reserves in the Central Valley had “coot shoots” towards the end of each season. I’ve heard that you stand on its wings, grab the feet and yank – and the breast comes neatly free from the rest of the carcass.
“Sluicing” one for the feathers would be frowned upon – given that it doesn’t fly so much as run across the water. At the fancy clubs you’d have to toe it into a sack – and not reveal its presence to your host …
Yea, Moorhen and Coot same family, both rails, but different genus. Surprised coot is mentioned as a sub, gives a very different effect to moorhen. Nice feathers though.
Your comments regarding Sylvester Nemes were
right in the ring of the rise, wonderfully spoken.
His books freed me from the classical modern mess that fly fishing as gone in.
We all miss you Mr. Soft Hackle
Bamboo Bill fishing soft hackles 99 percent of the time