Why dark
Good morning All.
Spider type flies.
Somethings trouble me ---------------
Why are most, if not all hackles in a brown to dark'ish colour, that I have noticed.
Spiders like Orange and Partridge are in the brown range, to me.
Why aren't there any yellow hackled Spiders to represent say a grass hopper ?
Kind regards,
UB
I would think the dark hackle would give the best definition against the light sky. However if you have a large, yellow legged hopper population, I can see no reason why imitating it with light hackle wouldn't work.
Eric
"Complexity is easy; Simplicity is difficult."
Georgy Shragin
Designer of ppsh41 sub machine gun
Just my initial thought about the question, but it seems like spiders/soft hackles as a whole are more general imitations to look buggy than something designed to match a specific food item, and since most fish food items are normally darker and neutral in color these patterns follow that trend so they can be mistaken for a larger range of things to fish. No reason a yellow hackeled one wouldn't get eaten if it looked like food like the grasshopper you mentioned though. It will be interesting to hear what others more well versed in spiders and their histories have to say.
im sure an all yellow spider will have its use, on occasion i have used bright yellow seals fur nymphs with success and cant see why a soft hackle wont do the same.
Hi Uncle Barry,
There are a few of Pritt's patterns that suggest lighter hackles, or some "stained in onions", which produces a golden yellow/orange colour (on wool at least). Some of the partridge hackles are the white with black flecks feathers, which appear generally quite light rather than dark. That one is often used in a partridge and yellow, while partridge and orange goes for the more brown mottled feather. I think the watchet's often use a "bloa", or blue/grey feather. I've tied a few of those (yellow thread, very lightly dubbed with grey dubbing, and blue/grey pidgeon feather) and they are quite light in the hackle.
The patterns that call for the feathers from the underside of a wookcock's wing are also quite light, with very pale markings. Hen pheasant feathers, called for in a few patterns, also produce a much lighter looking hackle.
On the whole, however, the patterns that are currently most popular do tend to be the darker hackled ones, like partridge and orange, or snipe and purple. My favorite, the water cricket, is a dark hackled one using a starling feather. One possibility is that as people start to re-discover spiders they re-discover Stewart's recommendation of the Baille's Black Spider, and they go with the few they have heard of, which are probably the Partridge & Orange and Snipe & Purple.
- Jeff
Hi Uncle Barry;
Your right, most patterns use darker colored feathers. I've seen a few tied with light blue dun hen hackle, some of which I've tied but not had an opportunity to try yet this season.
How's this for a lighter version?? http://www.flymphforum.com/phpBB3/vi....php?f=6&t=218
Wayneb
Im not an expert or even close, and strange as this may sound - from what I have read and from various forum discussions from many very knowlegable UK anglers many of the old Spider Patterns were indeed designed to be very specific imitations. Whether this is true or not I cannot say.Originally Posted by joe cool
Bear in mind that these patterns look completely different when wet.
Hi,
Indeed, most of the original spider patterns were designed with the intention of immitating specific insects (or a range of very similar looking ones). Some anglers, Stewart comes to mind, did suggest general non-specific patterns (Stewart recommended about 3 spider patterns would be all one really needed). But, reading the notes that Pritt wrote along with his patterns indicates they were intended to represent specific insects.
- Jeff
Good morning Jeff,
"Stewart recommended about 3 spider patterns would be all one really needed".
Do you have a image or dressing for the 3 by any chance..please.
As I am now interested in the colours after finding/seeing how the two tone hackle turned out. To me, this simple 'trick' was a major discovery for me, as it produces a real insect look, ( darker on top, lighter under side) which I hoped to have already tested on a real live victim, but sadly somethings always get in the way of my plans of late, so its next seasons adventure and discovery now that waits ahead of me.
BUT
I will test the two tone Spider on our local Bass, shortly.
Kind regards,
UB
In addition to the comment regarding dark colors providing a better contrast in silhouette
I would suggest that the importance of color is reduced even more by the fact that the light distortion around the water meniscous near the hackle contact points is what you see from below.
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