A few years ago a fly pattern was presented here as a FOTW and it was tied on a large hook and meant for Steelhead and I liked the looks of it plus the write-up on it sounded like something I wanted to try, so, I downsized everything and tried it on my trout. For the first year of fishing it, it was a fly my trout just would not let get away! It really caught a lot of fish for me and anyone I gave it to. After that first year, either it lost it’s effect or I moved on to another pattern that produced well. A few weeks ago, while fishing, I tried it again and did manage to catch a few fish, so, I decided to tie up some more and as soon as the weather warms up a little here, I will fish it hard and see how it is going to work for me. I thought it was interesting to see the new trend of Tenkara fishing come out and their flies were similar. Here is the link to Preston Singletary’s submission to FOTW which inspired me to try it in a downsized version. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/080706fotw.php I used a #12 Streamer/Nymph hook, olive chenille, hackle barbs for the tail and a soft hackle for the reverse collar.
I had stated above, “I thought it was interesting to see the new trend of Tenkara fishing come out and their flies were similar.” It is very similar, but, Preston’s submission of this style of fly was presented here as a FOTW long before we ever heard of Tenkara. It would probably make a good Tenkara fly if someone wanted to try it.
I fish this just like it was a wet fly. I cast it up stream, mend a lot to get a drag free drift and the lift at the end of the drift. I got a lot of “hits” during the dead drift. Some times I would put a little nudge to the fly as it is dead drifting just to give the “umbrella” opening and closing of the collar. The reverse collar really has a lot of movement with opening and closing.
I can see where the reverse hackle could be more effective in faster water. Soft hackles tend to get folded against the body in fast water thus losing the movement that triggers strikes. James Liesering tied his flies with hackle stiffnes selected to match the speed of the water. I think I’ll try some of those reverse hackles when fishing wets.
The reverse spider is a very popular fly out here for Sea-run Cutthroat. I believe Mike Kinney, who is credited as the fly’s creator, prefers Amherst Pheasant tippets for the hackle, because it is stiffer than hen hackle and doesn’t marry back together like duck flank. I have tied them with hen, duck flank and pheasant tippet and all worked. Yes, the hen hackled ones look very much like Tenkara flies. I think your version looks good and should work well.
