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The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

How to swing soft hackle wets, with Steve Culton

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.81.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2023

⏱️ 103 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Swinging wet flies, specifically soft hackle flies, is an often misunderstood method of fishing and many people try it but give up when it doesn't seem to work. But it's an elegant, relaxing, and fun way to cover a lot of water and probably the oldest way to fish for trout. There are some tips to rigging and fishing soft hackles, and wet fly expert Steve Culton [42:39] shares some great tips with us this week.

In the Fly Box this week, we have some interesting questions and great tips from listeners, including:

With the high water in Utah this spring, should I try to fish rivers or stick to lakes? And what flies should I use?

For float fishing smaller streams for bass, should I get a small raft or a kayak? Would it be better to use a double taper or weight forward line for small streams?

Are fly rod actions and recommended line sizes consistent across manufacturers?

Two great tips from listeners for getting the fly line out of your guides when you start fishing. At what point should I give up repairing my waders?

How should I fish a river that alternates between rocky rivers and slow, mucky pools?

Should I change techniques when going from one type of water to another?

When should I switch from a nymph to a dry in early season?

How can I prevent fish taking streamers form getting foul hooked?

Should I fish a pool with a nymph or streamer first?

Why did I see few fishing rising in an afternoon hatch and many more fish rising in the evening?

Where should I go to catch bonefish, tarpon, and roosterfish from shore without a guide?

I want to start guiding for striped bass. Where should I start?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hi, and welcome to the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast.

0:14.0

This is your host, Tom Rosenbauer, and this week we're going to be talking about swinging

0:18.8

wet fly specifically, swinging soft tackles.

0:22.9

That's a very much misunderstood way of fly fishing.

0:29.3

I think it's one of the oldest ways of fly fishing, probably the oldest way.

0:33.9

It's a really elegant, relaxing way to fish, and lots of fun.

0:40.5

I'm not very good at it, so I got an expert on today, Steve Colton, of Connecticut, and

0:47.6

Steve is going to tell us about his ways of swinging wet flies and how he rigs them and

0:53.0

so on.

0:54.0

I think you'll enjoy that.

0:56.2

It's a very informative podcast.

0:58.0

I know I took a lot of notes myself when I was interviewing Steve.

1:05.9

You know what?

1:06.9

I haven't talked about products recently, and you've asked me to talk about products that

1:12.3

I get excited about, or I recommend, and one of the products that I highly recommend

1:19.5

are the Orvis Clearwater Waders.

1:23.6

Not everyone can afford to spend over $500 for a pair of waiters, which is what you're

1:28.3

going to pay for a premium pair of waiters these days.

1:32.0

The ultimate, the best of the best from any manufacturer.

1:38.0

If you try to buy a pair of waiters for under-say 200 bucks, you're really going to get what

1:42.9

you pay for, and they're not going to work very well, and they're not going to fit very

1:47.0

well, and they're not going to last very long.

...

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