Tying the Beaded Soft-Hackle (step-by-step)

Putting a bead on a soft hackle fly (or North country spider if you prefer) is often frowned upon by purists, but it's a useful addition if you fish some of the more turbulent pocket water stretches of many waters--including my own.

Once you make the decision to add a bead, the question becomes: where do you position it? While most nymph styles position the bead immediately behind the eye, on the soft hackle this can create an awkward looking fly--and one that sometimes forces the hackles to collapse behind the bead when the fly is tied-off. The alternative is bead placement immediately behind the hackle. With this structure the hackle is supported by the bead while the bead itself becomes a thorax. The issue with this latter style is that the fly is a bit more difficult and time consuming to tie.

The method I've used to deal with this problem is laid out below. It's a little more work than the alternative, but one that works well. I hope you find it helpful.

Aaron

*****

Beaded Soft Hackle Step-by-Step
(Drop Shot Olive and Quail)

Recipe:

• Hook: Mustad R50
• Bead: 3/32" Tungsten gold
  
• Thread: Pearsall's Gossamer - olive green
• Hackle: California quail
• Body: Natural mole (touch dubbed on waxed thread)
• Head: Pearsall's Gossamer - olive green

Step 1: Tie-in the feather by the tip overhanging the front leaving sufficient room to wrap the hackle forward, make a small thread stop to the rear of the tie-in point to prevent the bead from sliding too far forward, bring the thread forward, whip twice and trim thread.



Step 2: Slide the bead forward to the stop, tie-in behind the bead, and build a tapered body to the rear of the hook. The main reason for the taper is to prevent the bead from sliding back on the body. Depending on the desired body texture and shape you can vary the taper or substitute a stop of dubbing.



Step 3: Add dubbing or ribbing material if desired. In this case I'm using a touch dubbing of mole over waxed silk.



Step 4: Bring the dubbed thread and/or ribbing forward, tie-off behind the bead and trim the thread.



Step 5: Tie-in the thread in front of the bead being careful not to trap the prepared hackle at an odd angle.



Step 6: Wrap the hackle the desired number of turns, and use a bodkin needle to distribute the barbs before trimming the hackle feather and building the head. Even if you do this the hackle fibres may still end up unevenly distributed, but this step increases your odds.



Step 7: The final product. As you can see, the thread head has pushed the hackle fibres slightly and locked the bead in position as well.




fin