Greenwell's Spider (variant)

[GlassJet]

His collection is dated around c1810. His Greenwells feather was a lot diffrent to what we normally accept today. The principle difference is that there is more a a dark area in the feather. I have managed to get a cape similar to what he sent me and I had to go throug quite a lot to locate it.

Any chance of photographing it? The old feather? I'd be interested to see that...
I've got a cape that sounds similar - I have three I think, that you could loosely describe as 'Greenwell's', I'll tie up a couple of the darker ones this week. I mainly use the cape the one in the photo is taken from as I am a firm believer in 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' and it just catches so flippin' well!

[GlassJet]

Lovely wee fly. Very clean dressing, as stated before. I'll bet it is just as effective as your other version, maybe more so.

REE

Yup, fished it this afternoon and it really did the business!

What is it about this fly pattern?!

I usually favour 'buggy' tyings, as they seem to incorporate more triggers, and i usually use as my starting point, in my mind's eye, the humble GRHE, which is one of the best ever fish catching flies, IMO. And these buggy spiders do catch fish, get some space in the body so they aren't too bulky and plenty to move around in the water, a nice, mobile hackle and they do come alive.

To be honest, I have far more success with them than I do the 'classic' smooth bodied flies (silk only) but with the singular exception of this Greenwell's Spider! It is lethal!

So what is it? Colour alone? Yet I have fished the waterhen bloa and got FA. Same thread colour.

Body colour / hackle combination? Am I just lucky with this particular cape?

The gold rib alone? Personally I think a rib always helps catch fish, or it seems to, but it isn't the whole story. William's Favourite has spent a lot of time on my cast, and it catches fish for me, but nothing like the Greenwell's.

There must be some reason the Greenwell's spider is such a consistent catcher - I jut wish I knew what it was!

Andrew.

[hankaye]

It was told to me by someone much wiser than myself that; "We must all learn to practice acceptance of those things in life over which we have no control."
I take that to mean everything.

And... that is one good lookin "wee fly"

[DNicolson]

The "Greenwell", in its many variations,
must be the most successfull trout fly ever.
The original given to Camon Greenmell was actually a well known local
pattern on the Tweed and probably the south of Scotland.
The evidence from my extensive readling is that yellow was the most commonly
used colour for silk on flies at that time.
In E. M. Tods' list of Mark Aitkens 11 flies, the only silk is yellow, except 9 & 10
(black & brown), and No.8 is the same recipe as that of the Canon Greenwell version.
I had assumed that the reason for this was that yellow was the most popular colour
among the ladies to highlight the neatness of their stitches.
I have had second thoughts about this, although there may be a lot of truth in the 'housewife' theory, it is also probably true, that their husbands had long realised
that yellow with a juditious use of cobblers wax, could produce successfull flies,
with bodies of varying shades of olive.

[GlassJet]

it is also probably true, that their husbands had long realised
that yellow with a juditious use of cobblers wax, could produce successfull flies,
with bodies of varying shades of olive.
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Hi Donald,
Yes, it has to have something to do with those beautiful shades of olive you can get with different coloured waxes over yellow, hasn't it?

FWIW, I think it is something to do with the glint of the gold embossed rib over the olive silk combination. If I was going to come over all analytical, I'd try the same body with a completely different coloured hackle, see if it was effective.

But this is of course a dangerous time, a time when a fish with the brain the size of a pea is in danger of making me look stupid!

Andrew