Spiders

[Traditionalist]

Dry fly fishing is great fun, seeing the fish rise to take your fly is a great moment. Timing the strike correctly and setting the hook properly as he turns down is also a great moment. You may however experience this with other types of fly as well, depending to some extent on the type of water you fish, and how you fish it. Also, dry flies are often not the best choice for various situations.

I fish often with various wet flies, and dress a lot of them. One way to fish these flies, is upstream drag free, just like dry flies, on a floating line. They should be very sparsely dressed indeed in order to obtain the absolute maximum of movement and "play" from the soft hackles,  (although when dead drifting, movement is minimal at best, and all movement of hackle etc depends on micro-drag from the leader, the flies can not move by themselves), and to ensure a "good entry", this means they should enter the water swiftly and silently, penetrate the film without splash or commotion, if this is desired, sometimes it may be better to keep them on or in the film, and reach their (usually very shallow) fishing depth quickly. This is about the only sensible way to fish single flies and unweighted teams anyway.

The judicious application of saliva aids considerably in the execution of this endeavour!(Just spit on it!), do not put the flies in your mouth however, unless they are firmly attached to a piece of line, even then this can be painful sometimes if you are not careful, but at least you wont swallow the hook! A drop of dilute washing up liquid is excellent for this purpose. You can also use Fuller´s earth mixed with washing up liquid on your leader, to deglint and degrease it. In the absence of all the aforementioned aids, a little soft mud from the river bank or bed, serves admirably to sink your flies, and has the added advantage that nobody has patented it yet.

You may of course weight these flies with lead wire or similar, and fish them deeper, where they are also successful as nymph imitations, but this is not how they were originally used. The technique is sometimes very effective indeed though. Using this technique with single flies, ( as opposed to "working" special team set-ups), can be very difficult without various aids like indicators, it is basically much the same as upstream nymphing. Of course, you should still match the hatch where possible. Generic patterns like Stewart´s spiders, or various others, may be fished weighted, as they represent lots of various insects, but fishing dun and spinner imitations deep, although it sometimes works, is not really the object of the exercise!

A relatively long soft actioned rod is considered better for this type of fishing by the way, as the line speed is considerably less than with fast rods when the correct technique is used. However, I prefer much stiffer faster actioned rods, especially when using "The long rod" ( I usually use a 13 or 14 footer for this type of fishing, among others). This also applies to fishing single spiders. Soft rods are useless for this. The rod should have the same properties as a good dry fly rod, as you will otherwise not even hook many fish. The hooks need to be good as well.

The theory on the slow rods, is that wide slow loops are thrown which will not dry the flies out between casts thus aiding them to sink properly. It is OK in theory! I used to believe this, but much frustration and a lot of wasted time and effort taught me otherwise!

The flies and leader should be degreased occasionally using the methods described, to ensure continued good entry. The leader should also be degreased, at the very least the section near the fly, this reduces shadow. If the leader floats it will hold the fly up, and especially in sunny weather cast a shadow like a ships hawser on the bottom, due to its diameter being exaggerated and magnified by the dent it causes in the surface film. You can try this in the bath if you like, you will see immediately what is meant.

Years ago these flies were often fished three or four to a cast, (another good reason for a slow easy casting style, try this with a fast rod and narrow loops, the resulting 'bird's nests' have to be seen to be believed, and can ruin a mornings fishing!), but this is not necessary. One will suffice, it should if possible be the right one though! Some "teams" of flies are necessary for certain manipulations. These wont work with a single fly. They can also be a problem when using short rods or plastic fly lines. In general though, a fast rod is a better weapon, and merely requires that you alter your casting style to suit it. Slow rods have too many disadvantages.

Using three or four different flies simultaneously, usually guaranteed that one discovered what the fish were taking fairly quickly, and as many of the great old wet fly fishers were subsistence fishers who fed their families and sometimes half the village as well, and also managed to finance regular pub sessions in this way, this was a matter of no little consequence, in fact some might say of paramount importance! Not all were poachers of course!

Upstream wet fly fishing with a single fly, is just as difficult and demanding as dry fly fishing, in fact many of the great exponents of this art believed even more so, as one is obliged to work in three dimensions, one has the depth to consider as well, with all that this entails, "drag-free" on the surface may well not be "drag-free" below the surface. If one uses various set-ups for certain purposes this is also of considerable importance. Even when working flies, one needs to know how to work them, and not just drag them around willy-nilly!

The flies must be very accurate imitations as well, to be successful, because the fish see them eye to eye as it were, without the distortion or blurring which may occur with surface flies, the fish do not see a "light pattern" in a "window", they see the fly itself, or a very good reflection of it, probably both, and if the flies are fished dead drift they have plenty of time to scrutinise and refuse them!

When dead drifting, no tricks like induced takes or Leisenring lifts or other subterfuge is used to disguise their artificiality, although you may of course do this if you wish. Fishing these flies correctly as they were originally intended usually results in good bags of the larger and better quality fish. They will of course also catch fish when fished downstream, but not nearly as many and usually not as good quality.

A cast of these flies, usually three, is also quite deadly on most still waters as well. Just cast them out and let them drift with the wind and current, do not move them by pulling or twitching, watch your leader, and set the hook at the slightest sign of movement, you will be very surprised indeed the first time you try this under appropriate conditions!

These flies seem to have a life of their own, given the right conditions and operation, and the fish love them! In England by the way, the "cast" refers to the actual action of casting, and also to the leader with one or more flies attached, a "cast of flies". To add to the confusion, other parts of the UK have their own terms as well, a cast of flies in Scotland may also be termed a "leash" for instance. I prefer the American term "leader" in the meantime, as do many others, it avoids confusion, even if it is rather less than traditional! Some older books use other names for the leader, and various parts of it. "Collar" for instance, "foot link", etc. These are explained elsewhere.

These flies are deceptively easy to dress, the soft hackles do however require a little practice to manipulate correctly. They must also be dressed according to their intended purpose. Some flies simply wont work, or not very well, if you use them wrongly.

Remember, about five percent of the anglers catch about ninety-five percent of the fish! If you wish to belong to the illustrious five per cent then you must try and think more like a fish and less like an angler! ( Or so it is often said, nonsense of course, fish can´t think). Or at least less like ninety-five per cent of them! As pure unadulterated logic tells us that ninety-five percent must be doing something wrong! This incidentally is one of the reasons I begin to grin fiendishly with barely suppressed enjoyment and expectation when at least nine other anglers tell me that "those flies wont work here", or "nobody does that here", or "I never saw anybody fishing like that before." I only have to ask another half angler what he thinks, and if he says the same as the other nine, (you have to ask the right half of course), then the statistical probability of success has just started to verge on certainty!

If nine and a half anglers are chucking out weighted black lures on sinking lines to absolutely astronomical distances and stripping them in at a tremendous rate of knots and catching nothing, you will be surprised how many times a large bushy dry fly fished on a floater in the margins with absolutely no movement whatsoever will work, more enjoyably so too. I call this, (strange as it may seem), the "ninety-five percent" rule, and I use it without compunction when I don't know what else to do, (which occurs quite often actually, especially on large still waters, lovingly referred to by my brother, who is a confirmed river fisherman, as "large featureless expanses of H²O in abundance"), up to now with almost embarrassing success!

People will sometimes look at you as if you are crazy, but you are there to catch fish and not to present a stable psychological profile to your fellow anglers, or even generate the vaguest impression of sanity with regard to your person in them, apart from which, these obviously uncharitable and base thoughts tend to disappear with the most remarkable alacrity when you actually catch a fish. This usually means you are no longer a "nutcase" you have become an "expert". Easy wasn´t it?

Strive to keep your wet fliest, small neat and sparse, the smaller sizes are generally more successful than the larger ones, hook sizes 16 and 14 being the most successful, although eighteens work well too if you can get the required feathers small enough, all this depending of course on the size of the insect you wish to imitate. It also depends to some extent on the type of fishing you are going to do, whether you are going to work your flies, and where! I know one or two people who fish very large soft hackle flies with success as well, (can't help feeling sometimes that they are mainly trying to use up big hackles though, or even worse, sell them!) but I generally prefer the finesse and delicacy of the small ones myself, and a size eight "Partridge and Orange" looks like a monstrosity to me! Apart from which you would have to fish these on a much heavier tippet simply due to the size of the fly, thus reducing your chances of a take.

In upstream fishing the old adage "Fine and far off" does not normally apply, rather "fine, stealthily, and as close as you can get without spooking the fish", are the watchwords here.

Spider flies and similar wets can be used anywhere at all. No specific water speed is required, and some, indeed all, under the right circumstances, are equally effective in still water. Usually, the slower the water, then the sparser the spider has to be. There are a variety of ways to "work" flies. Some techniques require that the flies are constructed in a particular way in order to allow such manipulation or attain specific properties.

One of the main "working" techniques for downstream flies is "vibrating" or "wiggling" the rod tip in a number of ways in order to make the flies pulsate. The particular manipulation required is dependent on the fly, and what one is trying to imitate. One may move the rod tip slightly from side to side. One may also tap the rod above the butt with the line hand to send vibrations down the line, and one may indeed also manipulate the line itself. Slowly pull the line a few inches, ( speed and distance may be varied), and then allow it to drop back again.

There is really no limit to the possible manipulations. This of course always works well if you manage to emulate what particular insects are doing, and you have the right fly on. But sometimes the right manipulations will work even with the wrong fly, this depends what the fish are keyed on, the appearance, or the behaviour, or both.

Another fairly standard technique was to allow the flies to hang directly below one, while still "working" after the swing, and then by moving the rod cause the flies to dart into, or close to, the weed lining the bank, and then actually retrieve them, straight back upstream. This often results in a fish. Particularly effective where there are undercuts or deep water on the rod bank. ( The bank one is fishing from).

One may begin retrieving the flies in short tugs of varying speed, as soon as they touch the water. Depending on the fly in use, and the effect this has, it can result in savage takes. Some anglers of my acquaintance seemed to have an almost permanent "tremor" when fishing. Some used a lot of manipulation, some used less.

These techniques are basically all "taut line" techniques, and one is in touch with the fly, ( or flies, often teams of flies, usually three, were used) all the time. there is no mistaking a take, but you may miss quite a few. When working upstream, one is basically using slack line techniques, and these require that one mainly relies on one's eyesight. This is similar to dry fly fishing, with depth as the added dimension. Polaroids are essential, as is a wide brimmed hat. many people will also need an indicator of some sort in order to see takes.

Depending on water clarity and depth, some of these techniques also rely on a more or less "sixth sense" and a lot of practice, similar to upstream nymphing. One may of course watch the leader, or the line tip, but this is not generally quite as successful. Most tried to "know" where their fly was, and set the hook at the least sign of disturbance or indeed any other indication or suspicion of movement evident in the immediate area. Depending on the depth at which the fly ( or flies) is fishing, one can use very similar techniques for working them, but one must remember that the fly is moving towards you all the time. Using a team of flies, one can cover basically more of the water column. One has then to rely on watching the top dropper. If it does anything strange, then set the hook. If a fish takes the top dropper, then treat it like a dry fly take.

A team of flies consists of the point fly ( self explanatory) and then the droppers. The top dropper is the fly nearest to the rod. Most common was to use three flies, but some anglers used more. The heaviest fly goes on the point, and fishes deepest. The spacings may vary, but at least 18 inches is a good idea. The dropper lengths are usually about six inches.

At one time much longer rods were used, and one rarely had more than a rod length of line out. This is because it is very difficult to control upstream flies properly with a short rod, even on relatively slow water. 13 ft rods and even longer were quite common, and I usually use a modified 14 ft match rod for these techniques. My "standard" nine foot rods are simply too short, and I am unable to control my flies properly. One does not really cast in the accepted sense, it is simply a "flick" of the flies upstream or a slow roll cast. No "power" is required, as one is only attempting to cast a short line "Short" is relative of course, when using a 14 foot rod a short line would be one and a half times the rod length, = 21 feet. With a nine foot rod, a short line is only 13 and a half feet

A good upstream man who can work his flies properly will usually outfish a downstream man at least 3 to 1, and will also usually catch larger fish.( Assuming natural distribution). One spooks fewer fish, one is constantly covering new water, and when one sets the hook one pulls into the fish, and not away from it. Downstream and across on a taut line often results in a lot of pricked or badly hooked fish. This does not happen so often when one is fishing upstream.

It is best to set the hook immediately when fishing by "indications". If one sees a swirl near ones flies etc. Otherwise one will miss the fish, a fast rod is required for this!. When one is directly sight fishing,and can see the fly taken,  then a short delay is best before setting the hook gently but firmly.t

Softer action rods are traditionally required for downstream fishing, ( as otherwise even more fish will be lost), but this is also dependent on the tackle in use, and the angler´s skill.. Usually one does not need to set the hook much, but a short line set is still a good idea. A nine foot rod is adequate for downstream fishing. The soft action rod is also important for beginners, as it allows easy wide loops which do not tangle so easily, and the line speed is less, which prevents the flies from being dried out while casting. NO! False casting is done.

Upstream, I use a fairly stiff actioned match rod. Here again, NO false casting is done. One may of course use quite a number of flies "Dead drift", assuming they have been designed for thís. One may fish upstream in normal dry fly fashion ( I would recommend using only a single fly for this)either in or just below the film. One may also use the soft hackle as a dropper below a dry fly. One quite deadly combination at the right time is a caddis emerger soft hackle below a caddis dry fly. There are other similar combinations.

On still waters a very good technique is to cast out your fly ( or team) and allow the wind or water action to form a bow in your line, and simply wait. Keep only loose contact with your flies, watch for disturbances where your flies are, strike ( set the hook), using a line strike immediately.

Using this method one often feels and sees nothing, and then a fish shoots away with one of your flies in it its mouth! One can cover large expanses of water using this method, and if the flies are the correct pattern, and correctly designed, no other movement is required.

The other common method used here when fishing such teams is colloquially known as "Show it to them and whip it off!". The flies are cast out, a very short retrieve is then generally applied, a yard or so, varying retrieve speeds may be used, and then a step is taken and the flies are recast, and the procedure repeated. It should be remembered that although many people use soft hackles as "general" patterns, more success will be had if one "matches the hatch", in terms of pattern, design, and manipulation.

There are some patterns, notably Stewarts spiders, among others, which practically always work. Nevertheless, a selection of patterns designed to imitate what one is likely to find hatching, or better still, what actually IS hatching, will usually be a great deal more successful.

[Traditionalist]

There are very many spider patterns. Here are a few traditional spider patterns you might like to try.




ORANGE PARTRIDGE   Perlidae and Ephemeridae Hook 1 (Size 14)
This fly is nowadays usually referred to as the "Partridge and Orange "
WINGS. - Hackled with a brown mottled (not barred ) feather from a Partridge´s neck or back.
BODY. - Orange silk No. 6a, or orange silk, No. 6a ribbed with about four turns of gold wire or tinsel.
HEAD. - Orange silk.
March to middle of May.


This fly is now a universal favourite, although it ( presumably!) started life as a Yorkshire wet fly. This fly is tied in so many variations in the meantime, that you could probably fill a fly box quite easily without duplicating even one of the variations! Most of the commercial patterns are hopelessly over dressed by the way, I have mentioned this in the past to professional dressers whom I knew were also more than competent fishermen, and was surprised at first to be told that they were perfectly well aware of this fact, but flies with only a few straggly strands of hackle are difficult to sell, fully wound hackles of three or more turns look more attractive in the box , and thus are chosen by many anglers in preference to the much better sparsely dressed flies. This is a serious error of judgement which will result in less fish for the anglers concerned.

Fix your size sixteen or fourteen hook in the vice, test it, attach your unwaxed orange tying silk (it must be unwaxed silk here, this takes on a lovely translucent mahogany shade when wet, the various synthetics do not, and neither will waxed silk! If you are not sure whether the thread you have is suitable, tie some round a hook shank and hold it under water for a moment, it should turn a rich dark translucent brown, if it stays orange it is no good), run it down the shank to a point above the hook point, and no further, take the silk back up to the shoulder, and let it hang. Now select a dark brown Partridge hackle, preferably from a whole skin, choose a small feather from high up on the back of the neck, it must be dark brown and speckled, but without the brown banding across the tips which occurs on feathers from further down the skin, prepare the feather as shown in the photos below, and then tie it in by the tip, as shown. Cut the tip off.




Wind ONE turn of hackle, tie off and whip finish, do not be tempted to apply more hackle, the flies catch much better when they are kept very sparse indeed. If you have trouble disciplining yourself to stop after one turn of hackle, then strip the fibres from one side of the quill stem and wind two turns of this, the result is basically the same! Winding more hackle makes the flies less attractive to the fish!!

Many of my pupils seem to think that they are "wasting" hackle by not tying it all in, this is nonsense, if you really want to you can keep the pieces of hackle you have left and use them for other flies, personally if I get one good fly from a soft hackle I am happy, especially as these soft hackles are cheap and relatively easy to obtain.

This fly it is an excellent general representation of many natural flies, especially needle flies and similar small stone flies and other insects of this peculiar dark translucent mahogany hue, (which it will turn to when wet!). It is one of the best possible imitations for the commonest British still water stonefly, the small brown, (Nemoura cinerea), also found in many slow rivers throughout the season.

P & O Variation No 1. Tie in a flat gold tag at the end of the body.
P & O Variation No 2. Rib the body with fine gold wire.
P & O Variation No 3. Add a small loose thorax of well mixed medium hares fur.
P & O Variation No 4. Add a head of one turn of peacock herl. This is then the "Dark Spanish Needle" a small stonefly.
P & O Variation No 5. to infinity, change the colour of the silk, or the hackle!

There are countless other variations which may or may not help to make the fly more attractive to the fish, or make it resemble a particular natural fly more closely. I personally often use the gold ribbed body and a hare fur thorax, although some of my older fly dressing and fishing acquaintances in Yorkshire years ago would have thrown up their hands in horror at the very mention of gold or silver tinsel on an upstream wet fly. They were just as particular in their fashion as the rabid dry fly men of yore! (or even, dare I say it ? as some of our more modern hidebound reactionaries!) .

Hope you catch plenty of fish on this one !

[Traditionalist]

One of the most successful spiders extant.  A first class imitation for many olives, but also a good "general" fly.



Waterhen Bloa. Ephemeridae. Hook 1or 2 (Modern size =14 or 16)

WINGS. - Hackled with a smoky grey feather from the under coverts of a Waterhens wing. (The darker side of the feather towards the head of the fly.)

BODY. - Yellow silk No.4, dubbed with water rat´s fur. ( Mole used here)

HEAD. - Yellow silk.

[Traditionalist]

One of my own variations, has proven extremely successful as an olive imitation and also as a "general" fly.



Body: Well waxed yellow silk

Rib: Fine gold wire

Hackle: Greenwell (light furnace) hen palmered over first third to half of body.

[Traditionalist]

This should be made of the small soft dun or ash colored feather, taken from the outside of the wing of the dotterel. This bird is unfortunately very scarce, but a small feather may be taken from the inside of the starling wing, which will make an excellent substitute.

Body: well waxed yellow silk
Hackle: Dotterel, or under-wing of Starling as substitute.

(Here the fly has been dressed with a blue dun hen hackle MC)

[Traditionalist]

HOOK. - Hook 12 to 16,smaller if the feathers are obtainable. Sometimes this fly works better with a little more hackle as shown.

SILK. - In various colours to suit. (Yellow, Orange, Red, and Brown silk, all work well).

BODY. - First two thirds silk, last third (thorax) dubbed well mixed Hares Ear in shade to suit body colour.

RIB. - Fine gold wire.

HACKLE. - Feather from the outside coverts of a hen Pheasants wing.

HEAD. - Silk as body.

[Traditionalist]

Borders fly that works very well. The original used Landrail for the hackle. A few substitutes are available but I have found the lightly barred rusty red feather from the lesser coverts of a blue jay  wing is an excellent alternative. Dark barred red hen hackle also works well.

Thread: Well waxed Yellow silk

Body: Silk as above

Hackle: Rusty red barred feather from a Jay wing  (Red barred hen hackle used here. MC)

[Traditionalist]

YELLOW PARTRIDGE Perlidae and Diptera. (Crane fly etc) Hook 0 or 1 (14)
WINGS. - Hackled with a greyish feather barely tinged with brown from a Partridge´s back. hackle set above and below for spinner, crane fly etc.
BODY. - Yellow silk

Excellent as a crane fly or spinner imitation in the film. Dressed umbrella style ( hackle splayed evenly around the hook) also a good stonefly imitation.

[Traditionalist]

LIGHT SNIPE or SNIPE BLOA Ephemeridae Hook 1 (14)

WINGS. - Hackled with a bluish feather from the under coverts of a Snipe´s wing. (The lighter side of the feather towards the Head of the fly).
BODY. -Yellow silk

Excellent spider for early and late in the season. Using purple silk and a darker outer covert feather gives the Snipe and purple.

[Wildfisher]

Thanks for posting this Mike. I'll be tying some of them up soon.  :