How to tie a Red Ass Soft Hackle
Such a crude name for a bug as elegant as this one must be ironic. The Red Ass Soft hackle is one classic little wet fly. Using some of the most traditional materials and techniques, this fly is a good old bug. If you are in to swinging small soft hackles to eager fish that will whack the fly on a tight line, look no further. This lightweight pattern is great about moving with the current and pulses along the way. Even if you aren’t into the traditional swing style fishing, throw this bug on the end of your nymph rig and let it go at the end of your drift for that unexpected fish sitting lazily at the end of the run.
Ingredients & Recipe
- Hook: Straight down eye- TMC 100
- Thread – 6/0 Red
- Body – Peacock Herl
- Hackle – Partridge
- Vise – Mongoose Vice
- Scissors – Dr. Slick Arrow Point
- Bodkin – Rising Stout Bodkin
- Whip Finish – Tiemco Midge Whip Finish
- Tool Kit – Loon Tool Kit
The Red Ass I tie is also a killer on the Rio Grande riffles in Taos, New Mexico. I tie it with a skinny red silk thread body with a peacock herl thorax and a grizzly hen hackle on a size 14 heavy hook.
Thanks for sharing Albert! That sounds like a killer bug!!
Looks very much like a soft hackle on a woolly worm. I don’t think it needs a new crude name.
Thanks for your comment. It is a bit different than a woolly worm. Although I don’t think I have ever seen a soft hackle version. That is intriguing. It is not a fly we created. We are just showcasing how to tie a commercially available pattern that is named the Red Ass Soft Hackle. Pretty tame compared to other fly names out there…