BAILLIE'S [STEWART'S] SPIDERS - Fly of the Week - December 21, 2009

**rtidd** · 12-21-2009, 12:17 AM

BAILLIE'S [STEWART'S] SPIDERS

James Baillie was a commercial trout fisherman around 1850. His job was to catch trout for the local hotels to serve to their guests. He was very successful as a trout fisherman using three flies of his design. When WC Stewart, a gentleman fly fisher and author of fishing books, was in the area he asked James Baillie to be his guide (Ghillie). While acting as Stewart?s guide, James Baillie showed Stewart how to dress his three spiders. The flies were so effective that Mister Stewart published a book containing the recipe and tying instructions for the spiders. The credit for these flies is usually given to Stewart, while James Baillie is often forgotten completely. Such is the power of the pen. These flies are so simple to tie that I?ll just demonstrate the Black Spider and list the recipes for the other two.

**texfly** · 12-21-2009, 05:34 PM

Gotta love the spider pattern's. On a recent trip it was the only fly I had that the fish would touch. I try to always have a few in the fly box. These pattern's look great , can't wait to tie a few up.

**JeffHamm** · 12-21-2009, 05:36 PM

Hi REE,

These are great flies. I use them quite a bit myself. It's funny, Stewart was quite careful to credit Baillie with the patterns, but since it was Stewart's book, people named the flies after him.

- Jeff

**kglissmeyer** · 12-22-2009, 03:35 PM

REE, thanks for the great article. I've used your spiders this past year and am amazed at their effectiveness. You could almost persuade me to become a wet-fly swinger, almost...

Kelly.