Thanks Hank!

Could you narrow the owls down to the proper British birds used by tyers who published fly recipes in the 19th Century?

William, I don't know how the darkest part of a brown owl's wing is colored but IMO that fly looks like the fly posted in Nemes Two Centuries of Soft-Hackled Flies as the Dark Needle from The Fishing Gazette. I called it Light based on the Color of the Hackle used. I readily admit that I can't keep ...

William,

The first one looks like a tie of a Light Spanish Needle.

As a local flyshop owner responded to a new flyfisher when asked about all the different flies in stock...

"You want to know why there are so many flies in my shop? I'll tell you the truth. They all work sometimes!"

While looking up soft hackle patterns, I noticed the same pattern may be tied with a thorax and some are not. Is there a difference in effectiveness of one over the other or it it just the tyers preference? Thank you. Tim I think both are true. Sometimes one fly definitely works better than the oth...

Bill,

Have you fished the new and old pattern together to see if there is a decided difference to the fish? I remember a Rick Hafele talk(including slides) on Emergers where he discussed finding 2 mayflies of the same species emerging on a rock with 2 different colored bodies.

Partridge and Yellow, March Brown Flymph, Iron Blue Wingless in the order fish are taking them.

This I believe is a Green Drake Soft Hackle, the hackle dyed the same intense yellow as the deer hair shown in the earlier Green Drake fly. This is a #12. http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/wandersonnow/Green%20Drake%20SH%20prof%20F20_zpsdrfehbsg.jpg William, This might also be tied to represen...

Here is my previously posted Nemes P&O inside my old copy of The Soft-Hackled Fly.