North Country Spiders, Partridge and Orange, Snipe and Purple

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.

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.


Partridge and orange PO1	Snipe and Purple SP2	Waterhen Bloa WB3	March Brown MB4	Hares Lug and Plover - Gold Tag HL5


Hares Lug and Plover HL6	Partridge and Yellow PY7	Little Dark Watchett LDW8	Williams Favourite WF9	Winter Brown WB10


Light Spanish Needle LSN11	Dotterel D12	Dark Moor Game DMG13	Grannom G14	Snipe Bloa SB15


Dark Bloa DB16	Cowdung Fly CF17	Dark Spanish Needle DSN18	Old Master OM19	Smoke Fly SM20


March Brown Nymph MBN21	Drop Fly Scothcher 1800 DF22	Dun Drake Bainbridge 1816 DD23	Brown Watchet Turton 1836 BW24	Black Gnat Turton 1836 BG25


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


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


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


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


Brown Owl BO46	Prismire (Ant) 1823 PA47	Prismire (Ant) 1823 PA48	March Brown 1933 MB49	March Brown Winged 1933 MB50


Thorax Spider Paul Proctor 2004 TS51	Greenwells Spider GS52	Caenis C53	Dark Bloa DB54	Spring Black SB55


Moorgame and Orange MO56	Snipe and Yellow SY57	Olive Bloa OB58	Partridge and Blue PB59	Greenfly G60


Light Bloa LB61	Dark Orange Bloa DOB62	Dark Purple Bloa DPB63	Grey Drake Bowker 1750 GD64	February Red FR65


Sandy Moor Game SMG 66	Snipe and Orange SO67	Poult Bloa PB68	Hawthorne Fly HF69	Red Palmer RP70


Little Black LB71	Dotterel D72	Olive Bloa OB73	Stewarts Spider BS39 Circa 1857

More will be posted soon

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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 150^th 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”.