TYING A BLACK SPIDER
In his Book The Practical Angler, W. C. Stewart described the Black, Red, and Dun Spiders in 1857. Stewart tied the flies sparse, using only a soft hackle. The Black Spider Dry Fly is now tied with a body, a thorax, and a dry fly hackle. Because of its simple appearance, it can imitate mayflies and mosquitoes. It is an easy tie, making it a good pattern for beginners.
Materials for Black Spider Dry Fly
| Part: | Materials: | Size/Color: |
| Hook: | Maruto D04BL | #14 |
| Thread: | Veevus 14/0 | Black |
| Body: | Hends Body Quills | Black |
| Thorax: | Ice Dub | Black |
| Hackle: | Dry Fly Hackle | Black |
Video Instructions on How to Tie a Black Spider Dry Fly
Video coming soon.Slideshow on How To Tie a Black Spider Dry Fly
Step 1 – Make the Body and Thorax
Spiders are simple flies, and as mentioned, originally, the flies had a hackle only. Today we are adding a body. It is a great fly pattern for beginners. The body of the fly should cover approximately half of the hook shank. Start tying in the thread close to the eye of the hook. Then continue tying in the thread until you have covered half of the hook shank with the thread.
Now it is time to tie in the Hends Body Quill. The Body Quill is a thin tinsel-like material, so I prefer to tie it in double, as shown in the picture. Doing so will make it easier to create a nice and even body. Continue tying in the Body Quill until you reach the point just before the hook’s bend. Take the tying thread back to the halfway point where you tied in the Body Quill. The Body Quill is not very strong, so adding a tiny drop of varnish to the hook shank will make a more robust fly.
Make a small dubbing noodle with the Ice Dub in Black. The dubbing creates the fly’s thorax and only covers about 25 % of the hook shank, so make a thin and small noodle. Tie in the dobbing to the hook shank.
Step 2 – Tie in the Hackle
The last step is to make the hackle of the fly. As this is a dry fly, rooster feathers are preferred as they are stiffer and make the fly float better. The length of the fibers should be a bit longer than the distance between the hook shank and the point of the hook. Tie the feather in with the shiny side facing you. Then wrap the hackle feather around the hook until you have a dense hackle. 3 to 5 times should be enough depending on the quality of the hackle feather. Tie the feather off, and complete the fly with a whip finish or a half-hitch and a drop of varnish.
How to Fish the Black Spider Dry Fly
Spiders are versatile flies that can imitate many different insects. But the black version is perfect for imitating mosquitoes. It can be an excellent fly to attach to your leader when the fish is eating these. It is a small fly, so I prefer to use it for rising fish or fish that I can see. Do an upstream cast and let the fly drift strip-free over the fish, or throw it close to where you saw a fish rise in the lake.
