I have been attempting to learn about as well as tie Spiders. In referencing, it appears that the English as well as the Scott’s lay claim to the spider.
The problem I am having is trying to distinguish the difference in characteristics of the two. From what I am able to understand, they are as different as night and day.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here is an excellent link, but it’s just not quite enough information
http://www.flyfishinghistory.com/north_country.htm#
Donald Nickelson, a member on here , seems to know a lot about spiders. Check out his website.
GBF,
I visit his site frequently but still haven’t found the answer. As you say though, he probably would have the answer. Thanks
Nobody knows where the spider was invented, it is probably hundreds of years old.
In many ways, from a fly using point of view, the north of England and the south of Scotland are identical with some regional variations.
Some styles of spider(softhackle) can be identified with a certain origin, the Stewart style for example came from the Tweed and its tributaries. It was well know to many local anglers there long before Stewart published his book in 1857 (?).
By the beginnings of the 20th century, identical flies were being used on both sides of the border.
There are spider patterns from the Alpine regions of Italy which appear to be just as old.
Thanks Donald,
I was reading the article in the afore mentioned link and was interested in the this part:
The interesting thing about the North Country spiders is that they seem to have little in common with the Scottish ‘spider’ patterns beyond the name and indeed they represent a quite separate line of development.
I am afraid I have to disagree with you Steve, first of all the word Spider in a fly dressing context is a style of wrapping a hackle around a hook.
You can use gamebird, hen or cockerel for this purpose. Many dry flies are in effect ‘Spiders’.
I realise a lot of people use it rather incorrectly to describe wingles wet flies of various origins, I have been guilty of this myself.
Also the Border between Scotland and England has been purely a romantic one for 400 years and
the Scots and the English have been probably fishing either side for longer than that.
The difference in dialect and customs between the people living on either side is pretty slight.
In 1885 T. E. Pritt published a book he called ‘Yorkshire Trout Flies’ within the year he re-published it as ‘North-Country Trout Flies’,
there was probably an outcry from all the other counties surrounding Yorkshire that they had as much claim to these flies as anybody else.
Another point about the North-Country, in the 19th and early part of the 20th century, Scotland was often referred to as ‘North’ Britain.
So what is called the ‘North-Country’ includes Southern Scotland.
The so-called ‘Stewart’ style of spider hackling did originate in the River Tweed area which is only a few miles North of the border.
I am afraid the Scottish and the English spiders have everything in common with each other, a large proprtion,
maybe 75% of all spiders are so old nobody knows where they originated.
About the only differences between them is some of the names which are due to the differences in dialect,
which to a lot of people not familiar with British dialect can be very extreme.
Hi Donald,
The last part of my post was a quote taken from the article on the link I posted.
That was what had me confused. I don’t know anything about Spiders and pretty know only what I read. After reading that particular article, I began looking for this “vast difference” that was presumeably there and couldn’t find any differences to be able to compare to.
I knew you had researched this to a degree that most have not and felt you would be able to steer me as to the accuracy of the article.
Thanks for the feedback.
Donald, when I read “The Steel Bonnets” by George MacDonald Fraser there were a number of instances when I found myself wondering, “Yes, but were there trout/salmon in those streams”. That is especially true when I read about the Empty Lands.
Somehow the idea of many square miles of of lonely, well-watered, uneven land in a cool and cloudy climate appeals to me.
Ed