reverse spider?

[cuponoodle breakfast]

Can someone describe a reverse spider please? Or post a pic or a link to a pic? I hear a lot of people mention them for searuns but I haven't found one in any of my books or on any websites. My typical searun pattern is a standard Knudsen's spider, or a close variation.

[Rob Blomquist]

Easy. Basically a Knudson's but after tying in the tail, and the chenille, wind forward, and tie the hackle in facing forward, or if you want, face clumps of fibers forward. Then wind the chenille forward, and tie off.

There is also a version of this where the chenille is started from the front of the fly, and the fly is finished in the hook gap.

I wish I had a link for you. If you want I can send you one or draw a picture over a cuppa joe, or pick me up for a day of SRC fishing, and I will provide the reverse Knudson's.

Rob

[cuponoodle breakfast]

Thanks for the reply. I have tried the other version you mentioned, finishing the fly on the gap. It worked ok, but I prefer the standard tied with a maribou tail. I hear more people mention the reverse spider than the standard so I might try it.
I found a few cutts in the river about a week and a half ago, but in the last few days they seem to have disappeard.

[troutman101]

I might be acting a little picky here but when I showed Mike Kinney my version he just about died laughing. There are 2 things to remember on this pattern:

1. Use a 200R hook sizes 6 and 4

2. Only wrap chenille 2/3 of the body in a carrot shape. Mike had a emphasis on having plenty of hook left to penetrate the S.R.C's mouth.

If you want to duplicate the original pattern you would also use a sparse tail curving upwards and finish by hand whip finishing at the butt not at the eye. Check out "Hooked on Flyfishing" video series featuring Mike Kinney.

I hope my 2 cents helps.

:PROFESSOR

[Old Man]

I might be old---but I'm good.

I picked some up last year,but didn't use them much. I got mine at Hook,Line And Sinker. Now East of Smoky Point. Paid $1.25 for them.

Jim S.

[Jesse]

The old timers chuckle about this fly. It was originally called "The Foo" until Mike invented it. :HAPPY

[KerryS]

What oldtimers?

[troutman101]

The old timers chuckle about this fly. It was originally called "The Foo" until Mike invented it. :HAPPY


People don't invent flies, they change an already existing pattern. Mike knows this and so do you.

[Old Man]

I might be old---but I'm good.

I've only seen this pattern used once and that was on TV. Les Johnson was fishing for sea runs in the lower Stilly. He was knocking em dead. But it was TV. You have to hunt all day for them to show on TV.

Jim

[troutman101]

Mike Kinney and Les Johnson used to work together at the Swallows Nest back in the day. Now Les is at Harry's..err..I mean Patricks and Mike is at Geek...I mean Creekside in Issaquah. If you go to Creekside, they will let you rent the vid. Mike is rowing down the Stilly and Les and somebody else is casting repeatedly to the rip rap for SRCutt's.

This is prime local broadcasting of two great fishermen.

"Mike forgets more fishing stuff in a day than most people can remember in a lifetime" -Pete @crkside

[Old Man]

I might be old---but I'm good.

Yeah,that was the one,it was a few years ago and I couldn't remember the rowers name. Thanks for the info.

Jim S.

:THUMBSUP

[gbhstrat]

I ran into Les Johnson three times on the Stilly last year. He gave me two of his reverse spiders and I kept them as reference because that is the one fly he said works the best. He had a whole box of them so it is definitely not a fluke that he is always fishing with them. I actually took some to Alaska with me and when the fish seemed to be picky I tried one up there. I actually hooked a monster King on one. The guys in my group asked what I was fishing with and when I showed them a reverse spider they all look at it and said “I don’t have anything even close to that!” I tie them with orange Amherst and black and white Amherst and then use either Black, Blue or yellow Chenille on the body.

[twodogs]

Does anyone have an actual photograph of this one or where one might be found? I've tied-up various flies based on verbal and written descriptions but would like to see if there is a "standard" pattern. thanks.

Twodogs.

[Old Man]

I might be old---but I'm good.

I don't know if there is a picture for that one. But you can get them at Hook,Line,and Sinker. Just East of Smoky Point. South East corner of Sr 531 and 51st Ave NE.

Jim

[KerryS]

If you can find a copy of Flies of The Northwest it is pictured in it.

K

[troutman101]

What, my description not enough? I thought folks could visualize a carrot shaped body 2/3 of the length of the shank.

[Preston]

Just a couple of points on tying the Reversed Spider:
Tie the tip of the hackle (duck flank, Amherst tippet, golden pheasant tippet) in immediately behind the eye of the hook, with the tip pointing aft and the quill pointing out over the eye and curving down. After securing the hackle you can cut the tip away, wind the thread back to a point on the shank in front of the hook point and tie the tip in for the tail. As pointed out above, the total body length should be only about 2/3 of the shank length.

Wind the hackle on from front to back, each turn immediately behind the one in front. It helps to fold the hackle and to stroke the fibers forward while winding the hackle on. Secure it and clip off the excess. Start the chenille at the mid-point between the tail and hackle. Wind it forward over the base of the hackle and right up to the eye. Reverse the chenille and wrap over the first wraps and back to the tail. This accomplishes two things; the first wraps help to force the hackle into a narrow cone and to support them in the water, and overwrapping the chenille forms a nice taper in the body.

The last step is, of course, to do a whip-finish at the rear of the body. If the fly is going to come to pieces, this is where it will happen, so a drop of head cement here is good insurance.

[twodogs]

Twodogs.

Thanks Preston. Nice detail which I will try tonight.

[ceviche]

I was just over at Patrick's and apparently Les Johnson and Preston Singletary have been hard at work. The boxes are full of reverse spiders in a couple of colors and body styles. I was told the both of them taught the house tier how it's done. For all you non-tiers, strike while the iron is hot! :THUMBSUP

[ceviche]

Hey Preston,

What do you think of my Reverse Spiders above? Are the proportions okay? No Amherst feathers, but would it make that much of a difference?

Ciao!
--Dave E.

[troutman101]

Nice!

Here is some good criticism:

1) shape the body much more carrot like. Taper the chenille which would be fat at the eye and thin at the tail.

2) use less tail and make sure to keep it on top of the hook shank.
Also make them a little shorter, just to keep from getting short strikes which is all so common with SRC's.

3) only use 2/3rds of the shank for the body so there will be enough to hook properly.

Otherwise, nice work. Did you whip finish by hand?

[ceviche]

Thanks for the tips! I will give them all a try as soon as I get offline. :BIGSMILE And, yes, I whip finish by hand--no tools involved. That's not because I don't have a whip finish tool, but because I haven't mastered the one that came with my Cabela's tying kit. :BLUSH

[jditto]

in the above photo it looks like the hackle is wrapped around the hook, kind of like a collar. is that true? also, would it be rude or improper to ask the address/phone of patricks? jer

[ceviche]

Yes, the hackle is wrapped around the hook behind the eye like a collar. Doing that can be a bit of a pain, though--for the novice that I am. As far as the address/phone for Patrick's, here it is:

Patricks Fly Shop
2237 Eastlake Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102
(206) 325-8988
(800) 398-7693 (toll-free)

[jditto]

cool! thanks for the info. jer

[Whitey]

Tied about a dozen spiders, reverse spiders today. I'm having a hard time with a whip finisher on the reverse spider with all the feathers in the way. anybody got an easy solution? :DUNNO YT

[ceviche]

Don't use a tool and use your hands instead. This way you can create a large enough loop to go over the feathers and only around the chenille. :PROFESSOR DNE

[Goneagain]

I have a article on the reversed spyder. It's from Fly Tying magazine fall of 97. I would be more than happy to scan the article and send email it to you.

RJ

[Reeltrout]

Reeltrout : Go see Mike Kinney at Creekside. Some credit Mike with the creation of this fly. It is really a weird looking fly with hackle tied forward of the head of the hook. I learned how to tie it a month ago but missed the sea run cutt fishing due to extended soccer season. Good luck.

You might also try Swede's fly shop in Woodinville for materials.

[ceviche]

Here's a photo of a couple of reverse spiders that I tied. They were inspired by Preston's directions, the examples I saw at Patrick's Fly Shop, and the picture in the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club's _Flies of the Northwest_. I am far from an expert tier, and these are hardly as nice as the ones I saw at Partick's (done with Amherst feathers) or the one in Flies of the Northwest. Still, I hope they will soon earn me some SRC's in the near future. I hope the photo works out. It was shot at the lowest resolution setting on my digital camera just to make the size limitation for photos.

Tight Lines!

[metalhead]

PLEASE SCAN THE ARTICLE AND EMAIL IT TO ME.:beer2