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Soft Hackles for Striped Bass - American AnglerAmerican Angler

$ 11.00

4.9

(543)

In stock

Description

Catch the fish other anglers can’t with these impressionistic patterns. [by Steve Culton] I REMEMBER BEING SO DISAPPOINTED by the flies in the saltwater bins. I’d just started fly fishing for striped bass. Coming from a trout background, I’d cut my teeth on traditional flies like Hare’s-Ear Nymphs and Usuals – patterns that at best gave an approximation of what a bug might look like. But the striper flies before me left little to the imagination. With their ultrarealistic 3-D eyes and opaque bodies, they looked like stuffed-animal baitfish. Many felt heavy and would likely be a challenge to cast. All of them seemed as if they were trying way too hard to impress the fish – just as you might stumble over words while trying to meet a beautiful woman, when all you really need to do is say hello. Then I discovered the traditional New England school of striper flies. These were patterns that made the case for less is more. Bucktails so sparse you could read a newspaper through them, flatwings that swam like baitfish (even when at rest), and soft hackles. Oh, those magical creations that breathed and pulsed and undulated like no jointed bits of