Recommended spider hooks?

[Mike Connor]

Fly styles vary very considerably according to region. Many styles are no longer used much, but they still work very well indeed when used for their originally intended purposes! This is largely ignored nowadays. Many people adhering to “standard” dressing styles.

This fly is a "standard" downstream winged wet fly with the wings set down.

These sort of "Standards" have mainly been propagated by professional fly-dressers and many books, over the years, for various reasons. Some apparent and sensible, and some less so, this does not necessarily mean they are the best, or even useful at all in some cases!

Set Down.



Some commercial flies I have seen , especially of this pattern, are absolute abominations, the bodies formed of olive floss and not waxed at all, the tying thread is often black, the thing is then about as translucent as an elephant painted black, and about as delicate.

Set down means that the natural curve of the quill feather wing slips is towards the hook shank, and the wing slips are placed front to front with the shiny side of the feather outside, partially cancelling out the natural curve of the feather, and holding the wing slips together.The wings slant almost parallel to the hook shank, aided by a bed of silk at least the same height as the body windings. The slant of the wings may be controlled by position and height of the wing bed when tying in, and may be varied somewhat if desired. Wing slant or “set”, also varies considerably. Many Scottish dressers use a much steeper wing angle on their flies, usually about 45°.

This winging style has become a sort of standard for many winged wet flies, and these flies are also often hopelessly overdressed, meaning far too much material is used. The imitation value is nowhere near as good as many other styles, although better when kept sparse and neat. The whole fly has a streamlined appearance, the hackle is also tied in so that it slants back at about forty five degrees to the hook shank and usually long enough to reach the hook point and even cover it slightly, although this is again purely a matter of taste, and dependent of course on the size of hook and length of shank.

This fly when dressed correctly will have a good "entry" when cast, meaning it will not cause too much disturbance when it lands on the water, and will sink fairly well, and will cause little disturbance when held in the current, or indeed when "worked," and will maintain its shape fairly well even in turbulent water. The hackle is hen. The wings are tied in last and then the head formed over the roots. The fly really depends on being moved by the current or worked to resemble a living creature, this is unnatural for a dead winged fly imitation, and is basically not particularly well suited to upstream or dead drift fishing, although it may occasionally work for this purpose. In larger sizes it is a good fry imitation. The shape of the wings is in my opinion largely due to a series of mistakes made by various authors, but that requires a separate article and explanation of it's own.

Set Up.



The wings on this fly are set up, and the hackle is not swept back to the same degree. Set up means that the wing slips are tied in with the natural curve of the feather curving away from the hook shank. The slip wings are set at an angle of about 45 degrees, and stand well proud of the body, this angle may be varied. This fly may also be used for downstream fishing, but heavy currents or "working" the fly will cause the wings and hackle to be compressed towards the body of the fly and force it out of shape. The imitation value is then usually not particularly high especially when overdressed, and many people think these flies are taken as small fish or active nymph imitations rather than as imitations of drowned winged insects. They sometimes work well though, and many such patterns have long traditions.

This is a fairly typical upstream wet fly.

The wings are tied in last, and then the head formed over the cut roots. This fly also mostly depends on being worked to resemble something alive, and is also not very suitable for upstream or dead drift fishing although it is somewhat better than the first example. The hackle is hen fairly short and sparse, with the majority of the hackle beneath the hook. A beard hackle (bunch of hackle fibres) may also be used.

An “Advanced wing” style was also popular on a number of dry flies. The most well known of these are probably the Mole fly and the John Storey, but there were quite a few others.

Set Up back to back.



This fly has slender wings, and the slips are not only “set up”, but tied in to curve up and out away from the body of the fly, “back to back”, with the shiny side of the feather on the inside. The hackle is only slightly brushed back when tying in, and the body is kept short and thin. The wings are tied in before the hackle! and the hackle covers the wing roots. The whole appearance is delicate and the fly is a fairly accurate imitation of a living creature. As such it may be used as an upstream or dead drift fly with some success. The Hen hackle is fairly short, sparse, and mobile.

Upright slip, split or bunch.



The fibres are tied in either as slips or in a bunch, and then split.The body is then formed, and the hackle applied last. The appearance is neat and delicate, with a high imitation value. The hackle is hen. This fly is excellent for upstream or dead drift work. It will also work as a downstream fly. Soft translucent feathers are best for these bunch wings. Jay primary or secondary, was at one time very popular for this, as were various duck body feathers. For the greenwell hen blackbird was used, but one may also use starling and other feathers. For small imitative flies fine fibred translucent feathers work best.

[Mike Connor]

This fly is a spider variation with a small fur thorax, and due to the very long hackle and the method of dressing, is an excellent nymph imitation for downstream fishing or working.

It will function as an upstream dead drift fly, but is basically designed to be worked, as the long, backward slanted, radially applied hackle, when pressed back by the current ,forms a translucent, very realistic, and mobile nymph body, shrouding the hook and actual body, giving a good impression of a nymph, or emerger .

These flies have a high imitation value especially for agile swimming nymphs, small fish etc. The hackle is not too sparse, and very long hen, it should project beyond the hook in order to achieve the mobile tail effect mentioned. Only works well when worked. Usually the point fly.




This fly is a spider variation for upstream work, and for dead drift fishing. The hackle is set in a vertical plane, or even slightly forward, (known as dressing with a "kick"), and the small dub of fur behind the hackle holds the hackle more or less in this position as well as the thread finishing process. The hackle is set hard up against the fur ball. A similar effect may be achieved by using several turns of thread behind the hackle after tying in, and thus forcing the hackle forward.

This type of fly is usually worked, either upstream or down. It is extremely difficult to work a single fly successfully, usually some special technique or setup is required

This fly will also often work fairly well as a downstream worked pattern, but the hackle will of course be pressed back by the current in this case, and the fly look more like a nymph than a winged insect, but not as much like a nymph as the previous fly. Also, dead or dying winged insects which this type of fly is usually (but not always!) designed to represent do not normally swim, certainly not against the current, and imitations thereof that do so, are usually ignored by all but young or “stupid” stock fish.




This is the "standard" soft hackle style mainly used nowadays, with an "umbrella" type hackle splayed evenly around the hook, and often swept back at a slight angle, it is sparse and even, with hackle fibres about one and a half to twice the length of the body, which is about two thirds the length of the hook shank. This fly may be used downstream, or worked, and may also be used as an upstream and dead drift fly, although not quite as good as some of the other models for this purpose it will take its share of fish. The hackle is again hen, and has not been manipulated, merely wound in.

Flies dressed with soft hackles show more “curve” than flies dressed with hen hackles, unless they are manipulated by being “set” and “bent”. Also, the stiffness, curve, and thickness of hen hackles varies considerably. Coarse webby hen hackles being better for most such purposes.The type and quality of hackle one uses is also influenced by the intended purpose. For fast water and some techniques, stiffer hackle may be better.



This fly is dressed with cock hackle wound so as to be vertical and concentric to the hook shank, as in a dry fly, the shiny side of the hackle to the back. It may be used in very fast water without the hackle collapsing around the body, and is effective mainly because of the semblance of life engendered by the hackle barbs flickering under pressure in the current. It may be used as an upstream or dead drift fly, but will not be quite so effective except in very rough water, as the stiff hackle barbs will not then move much, and one may experience lots of refusals from fish which turn away at the last split second. These flies were also often dressed with “henny cock”, which is soft cock hackle.

The hackle is kept fairly sparse, but somewhat bushier than a normal soft hackle spider. These flies are sometimes fairly hard to sink as well, and the cast and fly must be degreased thoroughly or this will be a problem. The hackle curve varies according to the feathers used.

A variation of this style using cock hackle, which was set back at an acute angle, was also used for worked flies, usually with fairly substantial dubbed fur bodies. One of the major exponents of this was Cutcliffe. Although this style does work in certain places and under certain circumstances it is not usually as successful as others.



This fly is dressed using combination of cock hackle and hen hackle, the short cock hackle, which is wound in first, supports the hen hackle and prevents it collapsing when worked, or in fast water, this fly may also be used upstream but is again not usually quite as successful for this purpose as a mobile single hen or other soft hackled fly. The amount of hackle and the angle of application may be varied to suit water conditions as desired. The same technique may also be used for supporting other soft hackles of course.

Such flies can be very effective in rapid streams.



This is a spider variation with a thorax of fur and a very short hen hackle, it may be used upstream or down to represent various nymphs, caddis, buzzers etc, a tail may be added, as in the photo, if desired, as the hackle fibres themselves are not long enough to imitate the tails. Short Pheasant tail fibres are good for this, or a small short bunch of coarse hen hackle barbs the same colour as the hackle usually, as they imitate the hairy tails on many nymphs very well indeed. Feathers are of course fragile, and various hair will usually last longer.

These flies may be used up or downstream and dead drift, as they are fairly good imitations, although somewhat lacking in "life" because of the short hackles. They do work well fished just below the surface, when they are probably taken for emergers.This particular spider can be deadly in an olive hatch.





This is a North-country-style spider with the hackle “set” above and below the hook, and "bent" to shape by curving the fibres over the thumbnail. This style is a fairly good upstream fly, primarily imitating spent spinners, but will lose its shape immediately when used downstream or worked. It is purely for dead drift work. The hackles are “set” above and below the hook to represent the wings of a spent fly. This technique was very popular at one time in North country flies. Many dressers being of the opinion that it was a much better imitation of the naturals when dressed in this manner.










This style is not very popular nowadays, it is a reverse dressed fly. The hackle is at the bend of the hook. A theory was advanced by several people that this fly looked more natural under certain circumstances when fished upstream, as it was then "facing in the right direction", the bend and barb are better concealed, and the tippet looked more like a tail helping to disguise the imitation even more.

I do not think much of the "facing in the right direction" theory for wet flies, although it might be true to an extent for floating duns fished upstream, the naturals of which often seem to face upstream, ( although this of course depends on the wind and water conditions).

Any flies may be dressed in this manner. The weight distribution is also a consideration with this style, if using heavy hooks the sink rate and attitude may be bettered when the flies are tied "reverse", the hackle being at the bend prevents the fly from being "tail heavy" as it would be if dressed normally on a heavy hook.

I have tried dry flies dressed in this manner as well, but they tend to be bad hookers for fairly obvious reasons, although quite a few anglers swear by them. The stiff hackle keeping the point covered and only hooking up when the fish closes its mouth thus compressing the hackle and the strike occurs at precisely this moment, in all other cases the point is masked by the hackle and the fish is not hooked. This is not a serious consideration with soft sparsely hackled flies.



This is a semi-palmer or "buzz" hackled fly. “Buzz” also means dressed without extra wings, just using a hackle. This is the style favoured by Stewart for his famous spiders, ( which were actually from Baillie), and it works exceedingly well for upstream flies, especially ones with very mobile soft hackles like Starling. It may be used with other hackles as well though. I use quite a range of spiders in this style, especially on the “long rod”.

This particular Greenwell Spider is one of my favourites, and I have caught a lot of fish with it. The well waxed silk is taken down to where the body should start, the gold wire is tied in and left hanging, the silk is taken back up almost to the eye of the hook, where the hen hackle is tied in, this is palmered half way down the body, and then ribbed with the gold wire. The head is finished as normal after tying the gold wire down. ( Stewart advised a particular method for dressing spiders. I mainly use the above method because the flies are more robust).

This is probably the most mobile and versatile spider style of all. Good as a “general” fly, but also excellent for matching the hatch for, nymphs, emergers, drowned duns and spinners.

The method originally described By Stewart for his spiders, which had no wire ribbing, was as follows: The hackle is tied in at the shoulder by the base of the feather. Then the silk and the hackle are pulled up together above the hook and the feather twisted around the silk. Then the hackle and thread are palmered together toward the bend of the hook until the feather runs out, , or to where one wishes the hackle to end. The thread is then carefully brought up the body, ribbing the hackle again, and tied off at the head.

Yet another method, is to wind in the body. Take the silk to the eye, and tie in the hackle by the butt. Take the silk in wide turns back down the body to where you wish the hackle to end. Wind the hackle down the body to the same point as the silk. Now rib the hackle back up to the eye, tie off and whip finish. The excess hackle ( if any) may be twitched out, or cut off. This is useful if you don't want to use a wire rib.

These are just a few styles, there are many more variations and local "tweaks". Which style you use should be chosen to suit the conditions and your fishing methods. The proportions are dictated by the insects you are trying to imitate, these flies are all on the Drennan Carbon Specimen hooks which are 2x short shank. If you try to suit the flies to other hooks, the proportions will look different, this also depends on the fly sizes. The fly size is not dependent on the hook size although many people have got into the habit of relating the two. They are in fact separate factors. The fly size can be varied regardless of hook size, depends on how you dress them. At one time concealment of the hook was a major factor for most dressers. This works best with short shank hooks of a suitable size, but of course affects the "proportions" of the fly. Also at one time many dressers ( Including Stewart) shortened their blind hooks in order to achieve this.

[Kelly L.]

This is a great little thread. I am glad you asked the question. I have not yet decided what my favorite spider hooks are yet. I do like the look of the Gaelic Supreme Spider hooks. I am not sure if they are exactly like the ones they sell now, or not. I have tied Spiders on the classic dry Mustad hook, with no problems. I like those very short shank, wide gap hooks for the classic look though. I also like the straight eye, and turned up eyed hooks for them.