Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

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tie2fish
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by tie2fish » Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:18 am

Here's one I tied a few years ago that is roughly based on a Sylvester Nemes pattern ...

Image
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DOUGSDEN
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by DOUGSDEN » Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:42 pm

Bill,
That is a really awesome pattern! Come to think of it, there are not too many soft-hackle patterns out there that even suggest stonefly but yours really rings out true! I hate to be a real baffoon about this but what is a Skwala? A certain species of stonefly I presume but, I have never heard that term before! Someone fill me in!
Neophyte D.
Fish when you can, not when you should! Anything short of this is just a disaster.
DOUGSDEN
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by DOUGSDEN » Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:44 pm

Wait a minute....I said stonefly. I meant salmonfly. Sorry, it's been a long day!
Fish when you can, not when you should! Anything short of this is just a disaster.
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Smuggler
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by Smuggler » Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:26 am

tie2fish wrote:Here's one I tied a few years ago that is roughly based on a Sylvester Nemes pattern ...

Image
Whoa. That's handsome.

Paparex; That "Twitchy Chicken" pattern looks pretty killer. Good for swinging through water columns.
Bazzer69
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by Bazzer69 » Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:31 am

tie2fish wrote:Here's one I tied a few years ago that is roughly based on a Sylvester Nemes pattern ...

Image
I particularly like the tapered body, the question is do the trout?
Love both fly fishing and fly tying, been doing it for a while
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Roadkill
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by Roadkill » Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:34 pm

Here is a Skwala Flymph just off the vise..
ImageIMGP1581 by William Lovelace, on Flickr

A few Skwala adults were on the Crooked River last week. Fish were ignoring them in favor of tiny midge patterns. I tied this up to fish below a Skwala dry next time I see them. A Mustad 9672 #10 with a Black Flex-floss tail, Dark Brown Hare-tron body hackled with a Brown Hen Back feather.

DOUGSDEN,
A Salmonfly is the largest stone we have in the US. https://www.west-fly-fishing.com/index. ... -salmonfly A huge heavy black chenille rubber leg nymph can be lots of fun as well as a Brooks Stone nymph.
Bazzer69
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by Bazzer69 » Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:23 pm

Most of the large Stoneflies I have observed crawl in their nymphal shuck and emerge in very shallow water. The adults apparently can live for some time and certainly the females oviposit after dark. A good imitation is a brown bodied rubber legs dredged along the bottom. I’m guessing the fish take them as dead adults
Since the imitation needs to be fished on a dead drift. I imagine a very large soft hackle, say a ten or even a eight might do the trick. In my experience a Simulator can wok at dusk. But for me this is not my style of fishing a soft hackle on a seven foot rod!
Love both fly fishing and fly tying, been doing it for a while
But not much good at either
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paparex
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by paparex » Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:56 am

The problem with a wet fly, stonefly is that it is a nymph or drowned adult. Due to the behavior of the stonefly (except Yellow Sallies) one does not see stoneflies mid stream. The nymph can be heavily weighted and fished on a dead drift in rocky, rough water. It is not the English chalk stream experience I dream for. But the pattern works. I bounce them through the rocks and gravel. The long hackle makes it a soft hackle or wet fly. The pattern fools many fish and I fish it both ways. Change up colors and sizes for every specie of stonefly
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Roadkill
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Re: Any Soft Hackle Skwala Patterns?

Post by Roadkill » Thu Mar 29, 2018 10:03 am

Skwala vs.Salmonfly ;)
ImageIMGP1583 by William Lovelace, on Flickr
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