Craig Mathews: Small Soft Hackles

Craig Matthews of Blue Ribbon Flies has invented quite a few flies, such as the Sparkle Dun and X-Caddis.

On a side note, when Dupont was about to stop making Z-Lon, he bought all of the remaining inventory (source: Tim Flagler). So, any Z-Lon that you buy today has passed through Blue Ribbon.

I love that material and like it in white (link here) to make wing buds for midge patterns. It has fine fibers and shimmers slightly. Antron is very different, IMO.

Here is a great video showing how to tie soft hackles for small flies. It’s very convenient and also is helpful if you don’t have small feathers on hand.

It is always fun to watch a master fly tier in action.

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One thought on “Craig Mathews: Small Soft Hackles

  1. I know they work but I have a really hard time putting faith in small flies subsurface other than for trailing an anchor fly. Definitely a chink in my fly fishing routine!

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