spiders

[bigtel]

can you tie any feather to make spiders,what feather is best.

a confused terry

[campsiefisher]

partridge, waterhen, woodcock, mallard, soft hackles.

Yorkshire Spider Flies should have a few patterns or look in the classics

Best regards
Jim

[dabhoy]

Any soft webby hackles will do if you dont have any of the feathers already mentioned just use hen as some of the others like starling and such are better left to when you become more accomplished as they can be quite prone to breaking.

[bill1]

Personally, I find starling fragile and clone to clump. As dabhoy says, most soft hackle can be fragile.

If you are just starting on spiders - sparse hackle

[brannan]

Any webby hen will do to be honest, as above partridge, waterhen, plover are often used. One of my favourite is crow.

[SharkeyP]

Have a look at Mike Harding's book "A Guide to North Country flies". He describes the way to prepare soft hackles for tying in tip first, with just the right number of barbules left on the stem. It will save you a lot of cursing.

SharkeyP

[bigtel]

thamks guys, had a go today supposed to be easy fly to do.

i had a mare

terry

[dabhoy]

Originally Posted by bigtel

thamks guys, had a go today supposed to be easy fly to do.

i had a mare

terry

Spiders can be tricky to get the balance right.
How about trying something like a black pennell which is easier to get right and use a hen hackle.

[tonyt]

I've found coot one of the easiest hackle feathers to tie, also a good sub for waterhen.

Tight wraps.