William Lovelace - The Electric Soft Hackle

I created this fly the night before the 2010 Northwest Fly Tying Expo in Albany Oregon. At the show I intended to tie trout soft hackles and Flymphs. But a recent discussion on the flymphforum.com prompted me to tie up a version for steelhead as I knew a lot of the Northwest audience is interested in steelhead and salmon flies. This #2 went on a fly rack at the front of the tying table as well as 11 trout soft hackles and flymphs from #12 to #18s to prompt a little discussion about the versatility of soft hackles. For the show I finished the fly with a peacock head as one link to the fancy flies of old salmon tradition.

To see the flies in Bill's Spade,  Blonde, Clouser,  Pink, and Tube Fly series and other William Lovelace flies, visit

The Flies Of William Lovelace

"What Can I Say About These Blondes"

"A Day on Puget Sound, Sea-Run Cutthroat, and Salt Water Flies"

"Favorite Flies for Pink Salmon"

Tube Flies on a Tube Steak Budget!

Favorite Flies, Fly Shops, and Rivers

Bill Lovelace really needs no introduction to Salmonfly.Net readers. His prolific contributions to the site are now over 140 flies and articles and his eclectic  collection on these pages  make him a valuable resource to the fly-fishing community, in particular those that wish to see a variety of steelhead fly-tying styles.