Evocative literature is a natural match for evocative fly patterns. Many of this journal's readers enjoy both, so I thought it might be a good idea to celebrate the first anniversary of SHJ with a nod toward some creative friends who produce both -- some of the folks Soft~Hackle Journal has been drawing inspiration from lately.
The first guy I tapped is Scott
Sadil. Scott is a
teacher, adventurer, wordsmith & soft-hackle brother who, it became
apparent shortly into our initial conversation, harbors the observational skill
of a heron. A skill we appreciate. The dude is
a rare combination: a fine creative writer and
a thoughtful fly designer & natural angler. Scott’s fly patterns hint at the
intuitive/associative process we see embodied in the designs of those who spend
a lot of time on the water pursuing the fishes & thinking about stuff,
& his writing reflects that process at work.
I asked Scott for an excerpt
salient to our game, and he gives us this from Fly Tales:
Lessons in Fly Fishing Like the Real Guys
“So much has been made of late
for the efficacy of the wet fly swing by soft hackle aficianados like Sylvester Nemes and Dave
Hughes that I’m surprised how infrequently I see other anglers employing this
timeless and elegant technique. This is,
I confess, my favorite way to explore broken, seamy, or riffled water. The mix of currents means your fly swims at
different speeds, sometimes swinging, sometimes adrift on a slack line. Practiced wet fly advocates fiddle with the
angle of their casts, the timing of mends, the choice of dressing and hooks,
all of which affect the depth and speed of the swing, the manner in which the
fly is presented through the likeliest holding water. This is subtle to a point practically beyond
words. The wet fly swing invites the
shrewd manipulations of rod, line, and fly that mark the presentationist’s
game. He feels his way through a
run, recognizing through rod and line—and a kind of muscle memory—those
unmistakable lies that can hold trout, a tactile familiarity that grows more
pronounced each time a trout grabs the swinging fly.”
Intrigued at the flies in the photos, I asked Scott about the pattern.
Intrigued at the flies in the photos, I asked Scott about the pattern.
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| Waking Muddlers tied by Scott Sadil |
“It is a true waking pattern, not meant to ride on or even in the surface membrane, but to ride or ‘bounce’ up against it from below. This, to my mind, is one of the often overlooked aspects of the soft-hackled fly: like so many things fish feed on, it rises to the underside of the surface membrane and gets trapped there by the strength of the surface tension. Fish, I believe, are much more willing to take things held below the membrane than they are to stick their noses into air, a move that essentially asks them to penetrate a new universe. The Waking Muddlers are sometimes grabbed without evidence of the fish eating, so subtle is the inhalation by the slowly risen fish. Just as often, of course, the take is visible, or, if the fly is inspected without a take, you will see evidence of the fish, which dials up angler attention in a way nothing else in steelheading can.” ~Scott Sadil
