Yes I do, though it depends on the water I'm fishing. On highly selective or spooky trout I tend to stay away from flashy materials especially bodies. In clear water like spring creeks, long pools on fertile freestone streams and pressured tailwaters I fish flies that imitate the naturals as much as possible with species specific flies. These in general use less sparkle or hi-vis materials. On the other hand, in faster waters I like more flash to the fly. The good thing about knowing the fishes behaviors in different waters is that you can tie the same patterns for the most part but use less reflective sparkle materials when you need to by substituting a natural fur or basic dry fly dubbing. I also often fish 2 flies and perhaps one will be more flashy than the other in order to see what the trout in a stream prefer. If I see a trend with strikes I can then change the other fly to match the hot one whether is be a flashy or a natural material design. One last point, you can mix your own dubbing allowing you to use an entirely synthetic body to mixtures of varying degrees between natural furs and synthetics to give your flies subtle sparkle.

He mentioned it was designed for fast water in the description.

Yes. Look for my store profile name www.ebay.com/usr/softhackleflyworks .

@@mcgeeflyfishing So do I understand contrast basics right, the Mayfly soft hackle nymph has a light colored abdomen and dark thorax; the mayfly emerger has a dark abdomen and light thorax. For the Caddis is is the exact opposite for the nymph and emerger? Very intriguing how it is opposite

@@wyomingtrout5581 Immature mayfly have a slightly darker thorax than abdomen. The emerger is imitated with the dun for the thorax and darker abdomen imitating it shedding the nymphal shuck. Caddis larvae contrast larvae are the caddis larvae peeking out out of their case. The pupa is the adult begging to shed the shuck the same as mayfly do.

Haven't had issues. If you're careful and slow when doing it it will be fine. You'll break it when doing it, not when fishing it.

This soft-hackled dry fly like all my soft-hackled dry flies can be customized or adapted with specific waters in mind. On small streams, especially faster waters, where I'm mostly fishing upstream I would tie it with a heavier deer hair wing for better floatability as I wouldn't be fishing it wet as much, but on larger rivers like the Madison I would tie it with a little less deer hair or reduce it onstream by cutting off a little to make a wing that would float but also could be pulled under or fished wet entirely. On the Henry's Fork and other large spring creeks where I could fish it across stream and the water is not turbulent, meaning I don't need as much of a wing to float it, I would also reduce the amount of deer hair in the wing so that I could fish it dry and wet or both in the same presentation, dry in the first part of the drift and underwater when it's down and across from me with a mend to keep it dead drifted and prevent it from swinging like you would a dead drifted nymph. The bottom line is tied different for intent of the fishing methods on the water I will be fishing on. Hope this helps.

@@mcgeeflyfishing Very tactical approach - love it. I ask because in "The Dry Fly's New Angles" by the late great Gary Lafontaine, he describes a test that he did one summer by fishing a weighted Joes Hopper as a wet fly. He consistently outperformed dedicated nymphers using standard nymphing rigs during these beta tests. To quote, "Overall the weighted Joes Hopper was still the deadliest of all grasshopper imitations. The angler wading upstream and drifting the fly naturally with the current not only caught as many or more trout than he could with any surface pattern, but he also fooled the larger ones. The biggest trout, always the most cautious, seldom rose except during a grasshopper bonanza; during the normal fishing days of summer they might ignore all surface food, but they still recognized a grasshopper well enough to accept one drifting at eye level"

Yes a wet hopper or any terrestrial for that matter is a deadly and severely under-fished method. The only fly I think that can give it a run for its money is an ant fished dry or wet. Many, many years ago I asked George Harvey what fly he caught the most fish on in his life. His response was a "deer hair ant!!". That's good enough for me. I still remember the revelation of cracking the code years ago at Bonnybrook on the LeTort with a #16 dark orange ant. That place gave me confidence to fish anywhere.