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.
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.
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
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.
A WET FLY SLINGER???
O.M.G.
Isn’t that like one step away from the darkside… aka Worm Drowning?
ROFL…
Merry Xmas all…
Watch it, you might ruin my rep. Oh, yeah, what rep…:rolleyes:
Kelly
Great fly, REE! I plan on tying up a few and see how they work.
Jeff,
Yup, Stewart did credit James with the fly, but people remember the Author, not the Ghillie.
Kelly, QK,
Fish the spiders on an upstream cast like you would a dry fly. Being tied on a light wire hook they’ll stay in or just under the surface film. If there is a take on the dead drift, there is usually a boil on the surface. Once the fly passes you, continue to fish the fly as you would a wet. Downstream takes are easily detected.
If the laws allow, I usually fish the Black on point, the Red as a mid-dropper and the Dun on the bob. After the first fish, I may change all the flies to reflect what the fish took.
Enjoy those spiders.
REE
I like the fly very much — question? You mentioned that James Baillie was a commercial trout fisherman. Where?
In the UK. Sorry about the ommission. Our friend Donald Nicolson has a Memorium for James on his web site. http://www.dtnicolson.dial.pipex.com/page141.html