Post by yorkshireman on Apr 19, 2006 15:24:46 GMT -5
The received wisdom when tying spider patterns is that a sparse hackle is essential - no more than three turns usually. There are circumstances though when a more heavily dressed fly can be an advantage. I would like to share my ideas.
My first venture into the heavily dressed spider (by 'heavily dressed' I mean 4 or 5 turns!) was to fish a Partridge & Orange as a spinner in the surface film. I found myself without a spinner pattern at the crucial moment and so picked out the most heavily dressed P&O I could find, greased it up, made it scruffy and proceeded to catch.
A sparsely dressed spider will imitate a spinner, but usually sub-surface where takes are harder to detect. After this success I deliberately tied heavily hackled P&O for this situation.
Then, fishing other spider patterns in a hatch, I noticed how often the fly, when newly tied on, was taken from the surface whilst it was still 'dry'.... on subsequent casts it sank and the catch rate (or detection rate!) dropped. So now I tie some waterhen bloa, Hare's lug and plover, snipe and purple etc., with a slightly denser hackle for just these occasions. A bit of gink helps
The upstream 'damp' waterhen bloa has bought me many fish in the last few weeks during a hatch of Large Dark Olives. I believe the fish are taking the easy target of a stillborn, struggling or drowned dun.
Tie a few
Graham
My first venture into the heavily dressed spider (by 'heavily dressed' I mean 4 or 5 turns!) was to fish a Partridge & Orange as a spinner in the surface film. I found myself without a spinner pattern at the crucial moment and so picked out the most heavily dressed P&O I could find, greased it up, made it scruffy and proceeded to catch.
A sparsely dressed spider will imitate a spinner, but usually sub-surface where takes are harder to detect. After this success I deliberately tied heavily hackled P&O for this situation.
Then, fishing other spider patterns in a hatch, I noticed how often the fly, when newly tied on, was taken from the surface whilst it was still 'dry'.... on subsequent casts it sank and the catch rate (or detection rate!) dropped. So now I tie some waterhen bloa, Hare's lug and plover, snipe and purple etc., with a slightly denser hackle for just these occasions. A bit of gink helps
The upstream 'damp' waterhen bloa has bought me many fish in the last few weeks during a hatch of Large Dark Olives. I believe the fish are taking the easy target of a stillborn, struggling or drowned dun.
Tie a few
Graham
