 STEWART’S BLACK SPIDER ... and other creepy things — by Peter Brigg
I HAVE often used wet, soft hackled flies, but seem to go through phases with them until I stumble on something else that gets my attention and becomes the flavour of the month. I was first introduced to soft hackles in the ’70s by my mentor, Seaclif Lake, who taught me how to fish them on a short line, with rod held high and drifted through pockets and riffles — all the time following the drift with the rod tip.
My interest in these flies was rekindled recently when Jan Korrubel lent me some of Oliver Edwards’s DVDs to watch. Amongst the flies Edwards tied was Stewart’s Black Spider. It was created, I understand, circa 1857 and is credited to WC Stewart who described the tying instruction in his book from that era, The Practical Angler — The Art of Trout-Fishing.
The fishing instruction was much the same as I had been taught. The materials Stewart used in the original tying were simple and included brown waxed thread and a shiny black cock starling feather tied onto a #12 or #14 hook — tied by hand, without the aid of a vice or any of the tools we use today.
The finished fly was eventually attached to silk gut cast and kept in a leather wallet with padded sleeves that could be dampened to soften the gut. Of interest is that the silk gut was made not from the caterpillar’s spun cocoon, but rather from the raw substance in the caterpillar’s silk gland. This was carefully extruded through various dies to give the right diameter, strength and each a length of approximately three feet. They even managed to get it fine enough to be the equivalent of a 3 lb tippet. Before use the cast had to be soaked in water overnight, or for at least two hours prior to being used.
I have since tied a few of Stewart’s Spiders incorporating my own twists with new materials. Wisely, I think, I decided to leave the messy bit of extracting the contents of the caterpillar’s silk glands to the experts.
What I did do, though, is attempt to tie the fly by hand. Now, for someone who is usually all thumbs, this was a challenge, and if it’s the truth you are after, I did cheat a little here and there. Quite how Stewart hand-tied this fly in all its simplicity is nothing short of amazing for anyone with the standard set of digits! However, after a bloodletting incident or two, I surprised myself with the result, and realised just how much we have moved on from Stewart’s era.
It makes me wonder what our sport will be like in the next 150 years. Will there be flyfishers attempting our creations of today with what they may consider the rudimentary tools of yesteryear while they are being teleported in time capsules to fish the mountain streams of Mars? Maybe not.
Read the full story in the December 2009/January 2010 issue of FLYFISHING. |
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