The 3 Hackle Dry Fly-Joe Humphreys

[3fhobbyist]

In Humphrey's book Trout Tactics Pages 139 shows a photo of the 3 hackle dry fly. On 140-141, it describes the tying procedure.

From what I can tell, the 3 hackle, wrapped last, has a lengthy bare stem compared to the first two hackles. The 3rd is used to brace the others in a forward canting direction, if I'm correct. Might not be.

Have any of you tied this style of fly using your normal hackle capes. Do you have any pictures.

I know Joe is up in the years. Love his fishing videos-dvds over the years. I wish someone would have sat him down and shot video while he tied some of the flies he's known for while discussing why he tied it in a certain manner. He's obviously a real thinking sort on and off the stream.

I have one of his caddis pupa patterns and I whispered to Joe,...in an empty room of course,...what were you thinking Joe?

Jeff

 

[FrequentTyer]

Hi Jeff,
I don't know for certain, but I would guess a lot of the thought behind using 3 hackles comes from wanting a fuller hackled fly but not having the luxury of modern (much longer) hackle feathers. The bracing you are referring to might just be an artifact of the hackle fibers splaying into a mess from wrapping the second feather through, and then using the third to tame the lot. But I agree with you that JH likely thought it through more than that. You should try to track him down at one of the shows next year and ask. I've been fortunate enough to talk with him on a couple of occasions and found him to be a very approachable guy and a lot of fun to talk to.
Mike.

 

[PhilC]

Joe's the man!

 

[dryflyguy]

I've never seen or heard of this fly.
But yeah - as stated above - I don't know why you'd need 3 hackles with the quality stuff we have available now.
Unless the recipe calls for 3 different colors of hackle to get a specific shade or effect?

 

[Maurice]

I remember reading about this fly in the MAFF rag in the late 80's. I tied a few and don't recall much attention for them from the trout. But they do make great indicators for dry dropper combos. Float like corks.

This isn't it but it is close. Three hackle dry fly

Tail was grizzley, brown and dun hackle barbs. Hackle palmer three at a time grizzley, brown and dun.

 

[3fhobbyist]

I have posted on a few forums. I actually thought the PA forum might be a little more tuned into it.

Yes. At the time the fly was tied it probably required three neck hackles. It's not related to mixing different hackle colors. Nope. The third hackle is rather bare stemmed and it forces the previous wrapped hackle to cant forward.

For those who haven't recently read his classic book Trout Tactics, Joe's reason was to create a spring or snap in the hackle, to have a fly that reacted and moved with the subtle wind currents by the surface of the water. It appears the normal method of wrapping hackle has more fibers penetrating the surface film.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[BradFromPotter]

Maurice wrote:
I remember reading about this fly in the MAFF rag in the late 80's. I tied a few and don't recall much attention for them from the trout. But they do make great indicators for dry dropper combos. Float like corks.

This isn't it but it is close. Three hackle dry fly

Tail was grizzley, brown and dun hackle barbs. Hackle palmer three at a time grizzley, brown and dun.

I tie it in small sizes 10-16. Using fine deer hair for the wing. I labeled it the "mini mac" as shown in
Trout Flies of the East : Best Contemporary Patterns from East of the Rockies .

 

[osprey]

I might be wrong but i'm pretty sure it was George Harvey that "invented" the three hackle dry fly , yeah , ol Joe used it in his book , but i'm willing to bet that's a Harvey fly. Having said that and having used that type of Catskill fly alot over the years , i think the pure and simple reason it works is that it creates a larger buzz which traps a larger air bubble therefore it floats higher and longer. Not tryin to be a smart azz here but give credit where credit is due , ol Joe had an even better teacher in George.

 

[3fhobbyist]

Osprey,

Indeed Joe did learn from and has often credited George Harvey for everything from casts, flies and leaders and forward thinking and approach (concepts).

Jeff

 

[afishinado]

Here is the George Harvey Method of hackling Catskill tied flies. Not exactly the 3 hackle method posted by 3f, but it works well for tying multi-hackled catskill ties like the Adams.

http://flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part255.php

 

[osprey]

AFish...........that would be what i would consider ONE method of doing it Harvey style but i'm pretty sure the 3 hackle one is his also , when George started tying i don't even think Metz hackle existed it was probably Darby hackle.

 

[gfen]

posted picture is a lee wulff skating fly. he goes into this into some lenght in "lee wulff on flies."

 

[afishinado]

How 'bout this for a back-in-the-day fly.....the bi-visible. I used tie them and skate them. Had trouble hooking a lot of fish, but they really worked.

 

[Shock]

That third feather has always been a mystery to me as well. I tie my flies like the illustration that Afish posted; with two Metz Hackle feathers.

I always imagined that the stem portion braced the barbles to keep them from laying down against the body of the fly when you were casting so as Joe wrote, "they spring back". The problem for me is that all of those hackle wraps take up too much space on the hook to allow for a decent head to tie off with.

On another note, the Bivisble is still a great pattern, though I tie them in all brown with no tail. Maybe fish think they are a June Bug or other terestrial. I never tried skating them. I will have to give that a try sometime.

Shock

 

[dano]

I read that same article in MAFF and tied a few.
They worked well as a flluttering caddis imitation.

 

[osprey]

It does work very good on caddis imitations they float forever and then hit em with some3 powder floatant and they are just like out of the box.

 

[Billems]

I think Joe explained that havng the third hackle increased it's floatability. The last uses the stem to compress the hackles forward, nearly making them cone-shaped. Today's Whiting saddles don't need three hackles. They're so dense with barbules, you have with two what Joe and George were after with three.

 

[troutbert]

I often tie wingless dry flies with a lot of hackle. Back in the day these were often called "variants."

Popular patterns like Adams, March Brown, Light Cahill, Slate Drake, Green Drake, etc. can be tied with no wings and plenty of hackle. They are easy to tie and every effective.

When the water is up and fast, many people use Stimulators now, which are great for that type of fishing. Heavily hackled wingless dry flies also work very well for that type of fishing.

 

[lars]

i often use three hackles on larger dries and i usually tie the last wrapped one with the curve facing forward. i pretty much always use three on dun and grey fox variants. sometimes to get the color and sometimes just to get more of the stiffer section of the feather wrapped on the hook as large hackles tend to get webby towards the base.

 

[salmo]

Joe's the man!

I had the pleasure of making him dinner a few years ago. It was a great evening with a bunch of veterans and their spouses.