Spiders

 

‘Spiders’ are the most unattractive of all flies. They look very simple to tie but in fact with so few materials used, it requires a great deal of skill to tie them.  

Spiders arose in Yorkshire in the UK where they have only rain fed rivers. The trout from these rivers are not large and must seize what food they can; unlike in the Southern UK lime rivers which are restaurants in comparison.

 

The name spider does presumption that these patterns would be an indeed bad imitation of a spider. That has never been the intention. Probably the name is originating from a spiderlike dressing, as the palmer is a caterpillarlike dressing. Spiders imitate nymphs of the upwinged flies at all kinds of stages and also drowned adult insects.

 

On the rivers in Belgium I have had never much success with one or two spiders. In our "polder water" they fish pretty well. Depending on of the depth of water I ty one or two spiders to my leader. I frequently ty the spider on the dropper and on the point I put then a nymph with a goldbead or silverbead of 2 or 3 mm. The last one could be a spiderlike goldbead. but that is not necessary. Sometimes I use a little shrimp for the point. Sometimes I change them also, but then you make a tangle more rapidly, because the lightest nymf goes in front.

For spiders I take a hook with a right eye and the best hooks I can find are the super specialist of Drennan in the measures eight up to and including 16. I use hooks with a right eye, because the flies looke much more on the flies that were tied in approximately 1880. Then they did not have hooks with an eye and fly tyers have to put on firstly a piece of gut to the fly, so that the fly contracted right behind the leader. Also I find the head this way more beautiful. You fish the fly slowly with figures of eight, you can bump and tremble the fly from time to time also slightly, a little movement of your rod cannot be lacking from time to time. Sometimes you can let the fly quietly sink: Eventually the fisherman stipulates if he catches and how much that is.

 

The last region day in Winis I fished on a bit of of abot 20 cm deep. There were someroach of about 15-20 cm. I have tied on one spider and let it sink very slowly. Generally he was caught at the first movement and sometimes already at the sink. The difficulty was not particularly catching Roach but not to frighten of the fish, so that you could catch several Roach from the school. They caught Partridge and PT.

 

If you want to ty Spiders you have to collect a lot of materials. The tying thread is in some patterns rather important, because sometimes the body only exists from no more than tying thread. Dubbing exists frequently from what I call the “debmethode”: you lubricate economically a liitle bit of sticky dubbingwax on the thread and then deb it with a fluff of  moledubbing, so that there is only a bloom of moledub on the thread. The hackle frequently exists of a feather of the upper part of a wing of a wood cock a waterhen or grouse. In many patterns you need a partridges feather and then it is skilful to have a partridge skin, so that you can choose the feather of the good size.

 

 

Partridge and PT

Thread: light yellow Body: pheasanttail Hackle: brown partridge Ribbing: copper wire

 

 

 

 

Iron Blue

Thread: Claret Body: tag thread, moledubbing naturel, debben Hackle: uppercovert of a waterhen

 

 

 

Partridge and orange

Thread: light orange Body: thread Hackle: brown partridge The thread can also be fluorescent orange.

 

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Black Spider

Thread: dark brown Body: thread Hackle: starling: halfpalmer Stewart wound the hackle around the thread and then around the hook. It is easyer to wind the hackle from the eye to halfway the hook . Then wind the thread trough the fibers of the hackle to the head.

 

 

Waterhen Bloa

Thread:   primrose yellow silk Body:      Thread with a light dubbing of naturel mole and a tag of thread. Hackle:    “the darker marginal covert feathers (Fogg)” of a  waterhen

 

Red Tag

Thread:   Claret Tail:        orange fluor egg yarn Body:      peacockfiber Hackle:    hen: saddle ginger brown or brown partridge   (This is not a spider but without the tail….)

 

Golden Plover and Red

Hook:      Drennan super specialist #12 Thread:   Olive Body:      Red copperwire Rib:         Red copperwire Thorax:    hares ear dubbing Hackle:    Golden Plover

 

 

Golden Plover and Yellow

Hook:      Daiichi 1640 #12 Thread:   Yellow silk Body:      Yellow silk Rib:         Black thread from a fruitbag: make a loop and                than corded, dubbing in the loop. Thorax:    Grey blue rabbit fur Hackle:    Golden Plover

 

Holospider

Hook:      Drennan super specialist #12 Thread:   UTC rusty brown #70 Body:      Holografic tinsel Hackle:   Golden Plover

 

Pinky Devil

Hook:      Kamasan B100 #12 Thread:   Olive 8/0 Body:      Spectra dubbing Pink Bead:      Silver 2.8 mm Hackle:    Hen: Metz Saddle ginger Brown

 

 

The body of a spider starts traditionaly above the barb, but some tyers make a much shorter body:  half the shank till allmost no body: 1 mm or something like that. Then your spider is just a hackle and a hook.

 

If you would like to read more about spiders you can try to buy the book of Roger Fogg: “A Handbook of North Country Trout Flies”. Perhaps Coch-Y-Bonddu sells it.