How to Refresh Your Tired Flies with Steam

It’s common to have your flies become tired and careworn after a long day of fishing. The hackles become limp and lose their shape, especially after that final fish. But here is an easy way to rehabilitate the hackle and refresh them back to an almost new appearance. Just boil some water.

The process is easy. Take a pot, or better yet, a teapot and put some water in it. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Select the fly in question and hold it with some forceps or needle nose pliers. Once there is a steady stream of steam coming out of the pot, put the fly into the steam (being careful not to scald yourself). The hackle fibers will immediately begin to return to their original shape. Use your fingers to manipulate the hackle fibers as needed, but often nothing more needs to be done. This method works on all hackle styles, be they stiff (futsu) or soft (jun or sakasa).

Here are some examples (and yes, these are the exact same flies in the before and after photos):

Here is a short (and somewhat poorly done) video of the process:

I’m not sure that the fish really care if the hackle on your fly is standing up in its original shape, because most hackle will come back to life when under water. But on certain flies it may make a difference.

So, if you are inclined to make your fish worn flies look new(ish) again, just use some steam. It works great!

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