Le Moucheur wrote:
Hello Iasgair,
This classic soft hackle is new to me. I looked it up on the web and I found two differents paterns.
One has the hackle winded from the middle of the body through the head the other has the hackle winded only close the close to the head. Which one do you use ?
Both of them looks very interesting
So very sorry for a very delayed answer my friend. Your typical ( as I call them ) spiders are tied with the hackle up near the eye, like the very popular Partridge & Orange.
But, my all time favorite is Stewarts Spider, which is tied from the middle of the shank to the eye. It's a very old pattern, and it just doesn't stop producing. What I normally do is fish with two spider patterns at once, and the Stewarts Spider is always fished below a Partridge & Orange or a Waterhen Bloa, something of that nature. The Stewart is deadly.
Here are some videos of tying I like. The first is Davie McPhail, one of the greatest modern tyers today. He has his own style of tying, but does it so simply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0W00N2hBHEThe next is the traditional way, the way Stewart tied them so long ago. Either style works.
To keep within the rules of the forum, being that we may not have permission to post the link to this video, look up Oliver Edwards, tying Stewarts Black Spider. It's definitely worth watching.