Old and simple, carved in stone effective..the North Country Spider. Northern UK, sparse and historical. Simple and functional. The pattern is too simple for some. I have mentioned this before, some flies are so simple that they immediately beg additions…stop! Don’t. Size 18 to big. Leave it alone.
Simple variety of thread colors. No tail, no ribbing, slender, only the tiniest of thorax if at all…a leggy two turns of hen or partridge or if small starling. A few spare parts twitching in the meniscus, life ending, life beginning, life undecided.
On stillwaters or glides or along the edges believe in that spindly silhouette.
Notice the body length does not have to occupy the length of the shank. Key point: reduce the thickness of the body. You will be tempted to adorn and flesh out the pattern. Have at it but save several dozen sparse spiders and give them a fair effort in a hatch. Mayfly, Chironomid or even Caddis, the North Country Spider is a great beginner pattern to tie and fish.Oh, the Anatomy pic is also a great resource at www.flydirectory.co.uk
SwittersB & Exploring 
i started tying these because i’m lazy.
now i tie them because they catch fish, every kind, everywhere.
your comment about the body length reveals one the greatest charms of this pattern, you can tie size 12, 14, and 16 on a size 12 hook by varying the body length.
either fish can’t tell or they wanted a size 12 all along.
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Sometimes there is that pesky match the hatch thing going on. But, sometimes it is a near enough hatch. I recall years ago the issue of the visible hook weighing on a commenter’s mind. The writer remarked in a way I have never forgotten….the fish more often than not see positives and negatives. The hook is a negative overcome by positives…the positives do not have to be lots of materials. The positives can be combinations of, or singular triggers of life or shape or color..then the positives outweigh that negative steel wire.
The very first fly I learned to tie was a Spider. Doug Stewart, of then Stewart’s Custom Tackle, taught the pattern. I for quite awhile figured it was just to learn how to wrap a hackle. Only later did I come to appreciate Wet Flies, large and small. I have a picture of being alone out on a lake with considerable chop, anchored in my pontoon boat, casting a scraggily wet into the troughs between the waves and seeing strikes on the steel gray surface. Memorable day…
Thanks for dropping by..to comment
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