North Country Spiders

[Wildfisher]

Or if you are in Scotland, South  Country Spiders   :lol:

What are the essential materials one should have for tying a good range of these flies? I know a complete starling skin and snipe wings  would be useful, what else should I have?

[Traditionalist]

Or if you are in Scotland, South  Country Spiders   :lol:

What are the essential materials one should have for tying a good range of these flies? I know a complete starling skin and snipe wings  would be useful, what else should I have?

Depends on what you want to use them for! A "range" of flies in the box is just wasted space if they are not what you need. So is a "range" of materials.  Took me a very long time to realise that.

EDIT:  Thought I better amplify that somewhat. The "wrong" spiders, or even the right ones at the wrong time, wont do you any real good, although you may well catch a few fish with them. If you have the right spiders at the right time you will clean up.

If you just want "general" spiders, then you could do a lot worse than Stewart's ( Baillie's) spiders plus a greenwell spider.  What you need for that are a light furnace ( Greenwell) hen cape, a starling skin, and a few hackles as substitutes for landrail. etc as well as some light blue dun hackles.  I would add a spider dressed small with starling and purple silk ( Iron blues and other small dark stuff), and a spider dressed with brown partridge hen hackle.( March browns, sedges etc). That's basically it.

http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=16947.msg181168#msg181168

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

I certainly agree that having loads of patterns is probably a waste of space. Experience has shown me that I tend to use 1/2 doz of any type of fly at the most. 1/2 doz dries / emergers and 1/2 doz wet loch flies, so possibly  1/2 doz. spiders is all I'd need.  However, I am thinking  traditional when I say that and perhaps some of the more recent ideas such as these soft wing patterns you mentioned might be worthwhile additions or perhaps replacements.

[Traditionalist]

I certainly agree that having loads of patterns is probably a waste of space. Experience has shown me that I tend to use 1/2 doz of any type of fly at the most. 1/2 doz dries / emergers and 1/2 doz wet loch flies, so possibly  1/2 doz. spiders is all I'd need.  However, I am thinking  traditional when I say that and perhaps some of the more recent ideas such as these soft wing patterns you mentioned might be worthwhile additions or perhaps replacements.

The softwings basically use the same materials as various spiders, just less of them and in a different manner.  There are not many useful "recent ideas", most of them are very old! One or two people who used the softwings went a little overboard and decided to replace a lot of other stuff with them as they were immediately successful. Fair enough I suppose, they have also been extremely successful for me, but I am not going to throw all my other stuff away as a result.  I still have a fairly wide selection of all sorts of stuff, but I have been dressing and angling for a very long time.  I also still have a massive collection of materials, and I will never use 95% of it now. Indeed, had I known when I acquired it what I know now I would never have bothered with the vast majority of it at all.  Of course I would then not have learned a lot about it either! One tends to get the collecting bug as well, and one then buys or acquires things just for the sake of having them.

I also like to experiment a lot, and of course you need the stuff to do it. I can't say I regret it because I don't, I enjoyed it.

TL
MC

[Clan Chief]

Fred get yersel a copy of Mike Harding's Guide to North Country Flies. A great modern day book of these ancient famous flies. A great resource for NC Spiders with pics and dressings and some notes on each pattern.All the flies featured in the book were tied by him too[I think]. I met Mike at the Fly Tying Fair at Stoke a couple of years ago and got my copy signed by him. Great bloke and very knowledgeable fisherman too.

[bibio1]

The only real nc spiders I use are waterhen bloa, stewards red spider and black spider. Sometimes i'lluse a green well or blue hen. Not sure the hackle matters on these flies as long as it's Gregory and soft.

Having said that I can go through a whole season without using these flies.

Cheers

Paul

[Robbie]

So far I have only used partridge and orange, Snipe and purple, waterhen bloa and black spiders.  However I am tempted by the sound of Mike Hardings book so that could all change.  Just as well I enjoy tying flies as I seem to get next to no time to fish just now.

[Highlander]

I have found the American book by Sylvester Nemes, "Two Centuries of Soft Hacked Flies" to be particularly good. It is basically a compilation of bits taken from  noted Spider peoples books & articles. Has plenty of close up colour pictures of the flies, fur & feather. The Americans in particular have "rekindled" an interest in soft soft hackled flies in the last 10 years or so.
I take what the others have said about having "too many patterns" but sometimes we do not know when to stop do we.
As for hackles, I can not see by Starling neck, Snipe, Water Hen, Jackdaw scalp, Partridge & my favourite feather Woodcock.
For bodies, yellow,orange black, purple, Mole & Hares ear dubbing. Simple thread bodies,red black,yellow, green, orange will do. Fine gold & silver oval. Peacock herl is useful & can be stripped for quill bodied flies.

Tip: Yellow in particular is a good early springtime colour for body.
Tight Lines

[Buanán]

Hopefully when I get home my silk thread will have arrived. I tied a few but I was having to split heavier silk threads to get it thin enough to form the bodies, and I get the feeling they were still too heavy about the body. We'll see.

I'm going to thrash a few burns next season with this style of fly and see how I get on.   

[garryh]

this site might help
http://www.northcountryflies.com/fly-tying-materials.html
Garry