North Country Wet Fly Patterns
Commonly known as
North Country Spiders
Also see our Can’t tie ‘em? Can’t buy ‘em? range of flies
At Fishing with Style we aim to supply a full range of North Country Spiders (soft hackle flies) tied by ourselves in the Yorkshire Dales using, wherever possible, the authentic materials as used by the innovators of those most famous of fly patterns. All the North Country Spiders shown below have been tied by, and photographed by, Stephen Cheetham.
Please note that North Country Spiders are traditionally tied with a very sparse hackle and short in the body. Some of these patterns date back over 400 years, the Partridge and Orange can be traced back even further.
The North Country Spider History Description of a North Country Spider Books you should read online
In other parts of the world they are know as soft hackle flies and the patterns, if not the same, are very similar to our own North Country Spiders. It would be our pleasure to arrange to tie soft hackle flies to order for our overseas clients.
All patterns shown below are priced at 85p each
Postage. labelling and packing to the UK will be £2.50 per order.
For orders over £50.00 postage will be increased as we will send by Recorded Delivery.
ORDERING
All our flies are tied personally to order. As well as North Country Spiders I like to tie those flies which are important to the discerning angler - just let me have your pattern or a sample and I will happily tie to your specification
In order to avoid any disappointment or delays for our customers we prefer you to email or phone with your requirements to enable us to give you a projected date for delivery. In addition to taking payments by cheque we are also able to send you an email payment invoice which will enable you to pay by Paypal, credit card or debit card.
Click here to view our monthly articles in the Yorkshire Post's Country Week Magazine
Which spiders? When? Click Here
© 2007 Stephen Cheetham
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Partridge and orange PO1 |
Snipe and Purple SP2 |
Waterhen Bloa WB3 |
March Brown MB4 |
Hares Lug and Plover - Gold Tag HL5 |
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Hares Lug and Plover HL6 |
Partridge and Yellow PY7 |
Little Dark Watchett LDW8 |
Williams Favourite WF9 |
Winter Brown WB10 |
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Light Spanish Needle LSN11 |
Dotterel D12 |
Dark Moor Game DMG13 |
Grannom G14 |
Snipe Bloa SB15 |
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Dark Bloa DB16 |
Cowdung Fly CF17 |
Dark Spanish Needle DSN18 |
Old Master OM19 |
Smoke Fly SM20 |
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March Brown Nymph MBN21 |
Drop Fly Scothcher 1800 DF22 |
Dun Drake Bainbridge 1816 DD23 |
Brown Watchet Turton 1836 BW24 |
Black Gnat Turton 1836 BG25 |
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Orl Fly Turton 1836 OF26 |
Yellow Spider Turton 1836 YS27 |
Red Spider Turton 1836 RS28 |
Whirling Blue Turton 1836 WB29 |
Hawthorne Fly Turton 1836 HF30 |
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Purple Midge Turton 1836 PM31 |
Orange Dun Turton 1836 OD32 |
Red Palmer Turton 1836 RP33 |
Iron Blue Turton 1836 IB34 |
Green Tail Turton 1836 GT35 |
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London Spider Pulman 1840 LS36 |
Jenny Spinner Romalds 1856 JS37 |
Oak Fly Rombalds 1856 OF38 |
Black Spider Stewart 1857 BS39 |
Dun Spider Stewart 1857 DS40 |
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Red Spider Stewart 1857 RS41 |
August Brown Walbran 1885 AB42 |
Cinnamon Fly Coming soon CF43 |
Smoke Fly Walbran 1885 SF44 |
Blue Bottle Walbran 1885 BB45 |
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Brown Owl
BO46 |
Prismire (Ant) 1823 PA47 |
Prismire (Ant) 1823 PA48 |
March Brown 1933 MB49 |
March Brown Winged 1933 MB50 |
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Thorax Spider Paul Proctor 2004 TS51 |
Greenwells Spider GS52 |
Caenis C53 |
Dark Bloa DB54 |
Spring Black SB55 |
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Moorgame and
Orange MO56 |
Snipe and Yellow SY57 |
Olive Bloa OB58 |
Partridge and Blue PB59 |
Greenfly G60 |
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Light Bloa LB61 |
Dark Orange Bloa DOB62 |
Dark Purple Bloa DPB63 |
Grey Drake Bowker 1750 GD64 |
February Red FR65 |
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Sandy Moor Game SMG 66 |
Snipe and Orange SO67 |
Poult Bloa PB68 |
Hawthorne Fly HF69 |
Red Palmer RP70 |
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Little Black LB71 |
Dotterel D72 |
Olive Bloa OB73 |
Stewarts Spider BS39 Circa 1857 |
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| More will be posted soon |
Yorkshire Post Fly Fishing Articles
If you like old fishing books this should be interesting for you.
If the link takes you straight to the book – fine – click on a page to turn over.
Press F11 on your keyboard to read it full screen, press F11 again to go back to normal
If the link takes you to the download page you can download it as a PDF or click the FLIP BOOK and read it on line
A lot of these books cover coarse fishing methods too.
North Country Flies - T E Pritt 1886
The Practical Angler - W C Stewart 1907 (revised)
The Northern Angler - Mr John Kirkbride 1887
The Anglers Manual - John Turton - 1886
These flies do not represent spiders!
It is a name given to a group of flies that have a very soft, mobile feather wound around the head. This is called the hackle and undulates in the current, suggesting the movements of water borne creatures. Spider patterns are intended to fish below the surface of the water. For this reason they are members of the “wet fly” family. The body of the fly is often made of one or two layers of coloured thread. A spider pattern is, therefore, frequently named simply by referring to the colour of the body and the bird that donated the feather. So, some of the best known spider patterns are partridge and orange, partridge and yellow, snipe and purple and woodcock and green. Just for extra fun, some of the spider patterns are called “Bloas”. Bloa is an old northern word that describes a slate - blue colour. Bloa patterns usually have a dull grey hackle, often found on the wing of a coot, waterhen or starling.
Many of the spider-type flies were devised in the Yorkshire Dales, mainly for fishing rivers and are frequently referred to as “North Country” patterns. The examples that we feature this month were all mentioned in a list, written by an angler called Sylvester Lister. In 1873 Sylvester was a founder member of what is now called the Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling club. He is buried at Bolton Abbey.
We have chosen three flies that will feature in many successful catches on our Dales rivers during April. Lister recommended all three and we are not intending to argue. They are the partridge and orange, snipe and purple and the waterhen bloa. They are usually dressed on hook, sizes 14 and 16. The partridge and orange is sometimes dressed at size 12. There is a whole tradition around the method of fishing with these, and other similar flies. Anyone interested in learning more about these methods, should read “Fly Fishing, The North Country Tradition” by Leslie Magee.
We could spend, and perhaps waste, an awful lot of time discussing what the flies represent. Some say that the partridge and orange is taken for an adult stone fly or the aquatic nymph of this and other species such as the up-wings. Others assert that the orange colour mimics a developing midge pupa. Snipe and purple is frequently reported to imitate the nymph or adult of a fly called the iron blue. Sadly, the iron blue is in serious decline; we rarely see it on our northern streams today. The snipe and purple, however continues to catch fish wherever it is employed. When the waterhen bloa is awash in the surface film, its straggly body and soft hackle writhe gently. It’s colour, size and behaviour suggest a member of the olive family struggling to hatch or indeed drowning in the process. It still takes fish when not a single fly is to be seen on the water.
After many years of careful research, scientific experimentation and empirical research we can however reveal the truth. Trout and grayling mistake these artificial flies for – FOOD.
The year 2007 sees the 150th anniversary of a well loved publication The Practical Angler by Mr. W. C. Stewart. During 1857 alone there were at least two reprints with the last full reprint complete with colour plates in 1958 - such was the popularity of his work.
W.C. Stewart, described as a “dour” Scot, held firm opinions on fly fishing and in particular the spider patterns and the methods of fishing them. He was a great advocate of the upstream method and seemed to be constantly in contention with other authors south of the border, to the point of being verbally aggressive at times, such was his belief. He would also argue vehemently regarding the best colours for flies. Like Henry Ford, Stewart’s favourite colour appears to have been black, his argument being that, in water, a fly between the fish and the light above is in silhouette, therefore colours are indistinctive, his opinion being that the movement of the hackle (legs) of the fly is the attraction, and this seems to make a lot of sense! Stewart also fiercely maintains that the fly dresser could never truly imitate nature and that Man’s interpretation of what a fly should look like can never ever be truly attained and I quote “Those anglers who think trout will take no fly unless it is an exact imitation of some one of the immense number of flies they are feeding on, must suppose that they know to a shade the colour of every fly on the water, and can detect the least deviation from it – an amount of entomological knowledge that would put to shame the angler himself and a good many naturalists to boot”.
Although Stewart mentions his three “killing spiders” in chapter V, it is the black spider tied “Stewart style” that, even today, is one of the most loved flies by many. A fellow angler, James Baillie, introduced Mr Stewart to this pattern in the early 1850’s and it became his trusted favourite to the point where he says “We were first shown it by James Baillie, and have never been without it on our line ever since”.
Roger Beck & Stephen Cheetham