In this video Jay Nicholas ties a Harvest Trout or Sea Run Cutthroat fly pattern called the Reversed Spider. This patterns unique hackle wrap gives it wild action in the water. The erratic action of the fly has been found to move fish over 16.5′ feet to the fly. We have heard that this pattern should only be fished after more traditional patterns (see Pete’s Special and the Female Coachman) have already been tried in a give pool. Only then does one resort to the Reversed Spider. Enjoy.–CD
Variations on a Theme
Reversed Spider
Hook: TMC 3761 or Daiichi 1560 6-10
Thread: Petitjean Split Second Thread 8/0
Rib: Oval Lagartun Silver Tinsel
Body: STS Trilobal Dub Dub Burnt Orange and Gold Ice Dub Blended
Hackle: Grizzly Variant Saddle Dyed Yellow
Al Knudsen’s spider, originally developed on the Stillaguamish River a LONG time ago. Stilly doesn’t have the sea-runs it once did.
No way. Every fly I tie is new, original, never been thought of or imagined before. To imply that this is a variation of some other fly tyer’s creativity is, well, OK, maybe, just maybe someone tied this style of fly before, once or twice. Maybe. JN
Great tie Jay…one of my favorite patterns. I was shown a variation using the Petitjean hackle tool ( mix of flashabou and hackle) followed by a glass bead and dubbed body – variations are endless
Erratic movement is key to many subsurface flies. Just adapted this idea to small unweighted “Thin Mint” style flies I strip on an intermediate line when fishing lakes: marabou tail, peacock herl body, and supersized grizzly hackle tied reversed at the hook eye. Can’t wait to try it. Should I name this the Al Knudsen/Jay Nicholas Thin Mint Spider?
I’ve seen the “reverse spider” tied as a dry and a emerger, along with a wet/sub surface. I tried the UV and the trilobal dubbing and the UV out fished the TRI 4 plus to one, UV purple and a red dubbing tag did the best ! and halo insted of flat for tinsel out did them both by 2-3 fish.
amazing results the guy up-stream from me was left with a 3 fish day I averaged 7 per hour for 5 hours.