Tying Soft Hackles with Ptarmigan

 

When we hear the term “soft hackles,” we immediately think of the usual suspects: partridge, India hen, brahma hen, starling, and hen necks or saddles. Ptarmigan is usually not mentioned in the line-up, but it should be! Ptarmigan is a lovely wispy variegated feather that can lean gray or brown depending on the bird. Ptarmigan is from the subfamily of Grouse, and I typically tie flies with either White Tailed Ptarmigan, which is light gray, or Rock Ptarmigan, a dusky brown. These little game birds are rock stars when it comes to soft hackles.

My Ptarmigan sources are either from Washington State or Canada; the skins are readily available on Etsy or eBay and are a bit hard to find in fly shops around the US. As a matter of fact, I've rarely ever seen it sold in fly shops, even online. But this is precisely why it's cheap and easily accessible elsewhere.

I stopped using Partridge many years ago when I was sent some feathers from a Scottish guide in Ontario. He used it quite a bit for his wet flies. I typically use spider patterns at the very beginning of the trout season and in the fall for search/recon patterns. 

Ptarmigan is a tremendous feather for soft hackles; it's wispy and variegated, and honestly, in my opinion, more lifelike than the usual suspects. It is also significantly less expensive! The problem with partridge is that good feathers are hard to come by, and if you only fish soft hackles intermittently throughout the season, it's costly to invest in a 60-plus dollar skin.

Above Photo: A sparsely hackled Hanak 230 BL using Ptarmigan

Rock Ptarmigan has the same variegated hackles but naturally dusky brown, which I use

for March Browns, BWOs, and caddis patterns. If you are desperately looking for partridge feathers of any quality, you really need to purchase skins; the loose feathers are always a crap shoot. Ptarmigan is very accessible and, again, in my opinion, as good, if not better, a fiber to use for soft hackles. Give it a whirl, you will be pleasantly surprised!

                          Thanks for letting me share~ Clint Bova