Hi Dwight,

If you go to Ebay and type in "Brookside Foam Spider" a spider will come up that is something similar to mine. I think it must be similar to Robert's as well, from his post.

Mine differs in that it is tied with fun foam of the type from craft stores or Walmart. Mine also has the body divided with the thread nearer the center of the foam, but it does have the abdomen somewhat longer than the thorax. My spider is also a bit more of a block shape, whereas the one on Ebay has a longer narrower shape with an abdomen that tapers toward the rear.

If you do a search for "bluegill foam spider" you will find a lot of hits. You will find that there are a bunch of spiders that all vary a bit, but are all somewhat similar.

A lot of the ones you see used premade foam bodies that you can buy at fly shops. I don't think the ones made from the commercially available foam bodies are a bit better than the ones made from fun foam that folks like Robert and I tie. In fact, my experience is that the fun foam spiders hold up better than the ones made from the commercial bodies. Also, the fun foam is so cheap that the body of the foam spider is so cheap to tie that $3 of fun foam will tie virtually a lifetime supply of the spiders.

There are a lot of good patterns that are similar to the spiders. Peter Frailey's girgle pop, Jack Gartside's Gartside gurglers, and lots of others are out there. In bigger sizes they are good for bass, and a friend has caught bass up to 4 or 5 pounds on the same exact spider, in the same size and colors, that I tie (he showed me the one I now tie.)

Regards,

Gandolf