User talk:Mike Cline/Articles Under Contemplation/Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer

The Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer is an artificial fly streamer pattern used in fly fishing for freshwater and saltwater species. The fly was originated by fly angler and author Jack Gartside in the Chesapeake Bay for striped bass. The original fly was tied to resemble smelt, a common striped bass forage. The Deceiver is arguably the best known saltwater fly pattern in the world and in 1991 the U.S. Postal Service honored Kreh’s creation with a postage stamp.

Origin
In the late 1950s, striped bass populations in the Chesapeake Bay were healthy and Lefty Kreh pursued them on a regular basis along the lower Eastern shore of the bay. He and his fishing partners faced a rather common issue with the big streamer flies of the time—feathers fouling around the hook. Saddle hackles secured near the eye of the hook, as was the common practice of the time, had a tendency to twist and foul around the hook bend during retrieves. Fouled flies rarely deceived the wily striped bass. Lefty’s goal as he put it was: "I'm going to design a fly that won't foul on the cast!  It will have a fish shape, but can be made in many lengths.  You can vary the color combinations; it will also swim well but when lifted for the back cast it will be sleek and have little air-resistance." The original Deceiver was all white and mimicked the prolific smelt that the Chesapeake Bay stripers foraged on.

Materials
The original Soft Hackle Streamer was tied with white marabou palmered in approximately one-third of the hook shank from the hook eye. Soft Hackle Streamers are typically tied on standard shank freshwater or saltwater streamer hooks. Several strands of pearl flash such as Crystal Flash, Flashabou, etc. were tied in over the marabou. The original fly used a large natural Mallard flank feather palmered in at the hook eye to create a contrasting collar.

Variations and sizes
In the 1960s when Lefty Kreh relocated to South Florida and began pushing the limits of saltwater fly fishing, the Deceiver grew in popularity and in variety. Today, the Deceiver is tied in an almost infinite number of color-material-size combinations. In 2012, Kreh published 101 Fish—A Fly Fisher’s Life List detailing many of his fly fishing exploits around the world. A great majority of those species were caught on variations of the Lefty’s Deceiver. Fly tiers have recreated the pattern in a wide variety of colors and configurations to mimick the various fresh and saltwater forage fish that larger fish feed upon.