Black King Spey

[cencalfly 0]

My first attempt at tying an Old Spey Fly and my thoughts on tying it follows.  Long post warning (not sorry so grace and patience please).

I’ve just started on a journey to learn about, and tie, good Spey flies.  I’ve tied many flies that I now understand to be ‘Spey Type Flies.’  By my own account they were really cool.  I’ve also tied many steelhead and trout flies. However, I’ve always been drawn to the elegance of a well tied Spey fly.  Soft Hackles are right up there too but that’s another endeavor.  Love that Simple Elegance.

With that said, boy there is a lot of history.  Started binge reading to get a good understanding of the style.  One of my first reads in my focused study is “Spey Flies, Their History and Construction” by John Shewey (reading still in progress).  That guy put a lot of work in that book.  Anyway, Shewey and many others say that to learn, start with the originals.  Learn to tie them well first.  As a retired old school engineer it’s a sentiment I support.

So, I started with what I can see as one of the first or original Spey flies.  Evidently it was considered old in 1872 in A.E Knox’s “Autumn On The Spey” collection.  Caveat; not my best tie, my eyesight is crap and hands a little shaky.  First thing I see is that I crowded the eye and got head cement on the wing amongst other things. Bad tyer, no donut for me 😊. 

Let me know what needs work including my understanding of what I’ve read and perceived. I’m trying to learn.  I’m including some pics of the stages of my work.

 

 Black King¹

Hook: Alec Jackson Spey #3

Body: Black Berlin Wool²

Rib: Alternate bars of flat gold and silver tinsel (wound reverse), Dark Charcoal silk button hole twist thread (wound reverse over the hackle to lock it in)³

Hackle: Black Rooster Coque (wound normal over the gold and silver tinsel)

Shoulder Hackle: Guinea fowl

Wing: Bronze Mallard

Footnotes:

1)      Recipe is found on page 69 of the book “Autumn On The Spey.”  The fly is listed as one of the “Old Spey Flies” at the time the book was published in 1872.  The fly described was tied by Shanks of Craigellachie (by all accounts a renowned ghillie and fly-tying artist).  My version varies from that description slightly.

2)      From my reading of textile sites, production of Berlin Wool ceased in the 1930s.  The material used on this fly was listed as “like” Berlin Wool (same material). From what I can gather the closest material available today would be Crewel yarn made of Merino Wool.

3)      The direction of winding the tinsel is not stated in Knox’s description.  Kelson’s book describes the tinsels wound in reverse and the hackle wound normal.  So, I followed that on this fly.  Kelson also refers to the Green King for additional tying notes wherein the thread is added to lock in the hackle. Shewey mentions in his book that the thread may be omitted in descriptions but it was common practice to add it to secure the hackle.  Therefore, I added it.  Seems to make sense. 

[cphubert 0]

Nice tie and a new rabbit hole is always fun to explore! I am not a traditional Spey fly tier but would love to find a reasonably priced copy of Shewey's book or a library copy. (just ordered on Amazon for $22)

Found this online at Maine fly fish, I cannot gauge accuracy of article or if Shewey covers it in his book. James, please keep this post updated I am feeling the gravitational pull of this rabbit hole. 

The ribs were the one place where those ghillies showed off a bit and opted for some flair. But even there, there was some functional genius. The traditional Speys all featured at least two ribs, and some had four or more. A main rib of flat silver or gold tinsel widely spaced was primary. The gaps between each turn featured a narrower flat or twisted tinsel of the opposite color, and/or in some later patterns, a strand of bright silk floss. Always, a final counter rib of twisted gold or silver tinsel was wound on after the hackle in the reverse direction of the hackle to bind it down and keep the fly fishable if the hackle stem broke. When working with that many ribs, precision is paramount. If the gap in the main rib between turns 2 and 3 varies even a little from the gap between turns 1 and 2, the mistake is only magnified by the addition of the secondary and tertiary ribs. When ribbing a traditional Spey, you had to get it exactly right from start to finish, or the look would be ruined. There were no cheeks or herl butts to hide the blemishes, no gaudy and intricate wings to draw the eye up away from the body.

What struck me most when I first started reading about the old Speys was the emphasis placed on widely spaced ribs. Some period sources don’t specify the proper number of turns, but those that do mention two to four turns for a rib. At some point early in my fly tying days, I was told that salmon and steelhead flies must have five turns of ribbing. At first, I thought it was pretty arbitrary. Why not six or four, or some other number depending on the length of the hook and width of the ribbing material? What was so special about five? It was only after looking at lots and lots and lots of flies tied by people who will always be way better tyers than me, did I see that five turns of appropriately sized material made for the most aesthetically pleasing proportions. It also kept a nice balance of tinsel color versus body color. A red body was still definitely red, but accented nicely with gold or silver flash if there were five turns. Where hackle was wound butted up against that rib, it created an optimal balance between sparse and full as well.

So why only three or four (at most) turns of the main rib on a Spey fly? Here’s where the functional genius comes in. In order not to obscure the rib, palmered hackle is best placed against the rear or trailing edge of the rib. So, the number of turns of rib dictates the number of turns of hackle. The extra long coque tail and heron hackles of the old Speys had to be kept reasonably sparse, or they would interfere with the sink rate of the fly. Too much hackle also dampens the action in the water, as barbs clump together and move less freely, especially in swifter waters like the Spey. Placing five turns of ribbing, and thus five turns of hackle, on the extra short body of a Spey fly would have tilted the sparse/full balance too heavily to the full side.

Although nobody today knows for sure why the early Speyside tyers included additional ribs running parallel to the hackle and main rib, I think it may have had something to do with the lesser number of turns of main rib. The waters of the Spey are “peaty”; not cloudy, but certainly tinted. One way to increase visibility in the stained water without adding bulk to flies was to add more flash in the form of tinsel ribs. Second, third, or even fourth ribs wound between and counter to the main rib were an obvious solution. I strongly suspect that the ghillies may have been hedging their bets a bit as well. Period literature reveals a great deal of theorizing about (even an obsession with) the merits of silver or gold tinsels in a given set of conditions. Strong opinions were voiced streamside concerning whether it was a “gold day” or a “silver day.” Given that many of the old Spey patterns differ principally only in tinsel colors and configurations, there’s plenty of evidence in the flies themselves that the choice of gold or silver was a serious matter. A fly sporting both simply covered more bases.

[niveker 0]

Nice post, good stuff. 

[cencalfly 0]

Great write up.  Thank you for sharing.  I really appreciate your discussion and thoughts.  You called it though; this surely can be a rabbit hole but one I’m glad to go down.  Just need to avoid the hatmakers and hookah smoking caterpillars.

I surely hope you enjoy the book.  It’s well made with heavy paper, decent binding with good exhibits and photos. Bells and whistles aside, there is a wealth of info in there that I believe to be well researched. Writing is well done.  It’s becoming a reference book for me.

On 2/14/2024 at 8:26 AM, cphubert said:

Found this online at Maine fly fish, I cannot gauge accuracy of article or if Shewey covers it in his book. James, please keep this post updated I am feeling the gravitational pull of this rabbit hole. 

Shewey does cover it.  He notes that Knox stated that Spey flies often only had 3 or 4 turns of wide tinsel.  Shewey was able to personally examine flies tied by Jamie and Geordie Shanks (how cool is that).  He notes that the flies he examined had 4 to 5 turns of ribbing.  Also, that there would be 7 to 15 turns of hackle.  Turns of hackle did not necessarily match the turns of ribbing. 

 The father son team of Shanks sometimes even doubled up the hackle.  A lot of this was dictated by the length of the hook.  I was limited in my tie by a short hook so the rib doesn’t flow like I think it should, seems a bit crowded, and the body a little fat (like me).  I want to get the styles and tying movements down before I spend the $ for long shank blind-eye hooks.  They can be pricey. 

 The family of Kings were known for their alternating gold and silver tinsel.  Other families of flies differ.  It’s also noted by Shewey that even a particular pattern (Kings included) would differ depending on the tyer. In fact, the same tyer may also have different versions of the same pattern/recipe that they themselves tie.  Much like today, tyers rarely tie the same pattern to be consistent across the board.  Lots of variants.

There are a lot of current ‘best practice’ thoughts I need to get past.  Like having the wing have the upturned keel look and be tight to the fly body.  It seems the old style Spey dressings had the wing ride higher over the hackle.  They may still have the upturned keel but ride much higher and/or left and right wing separated.  There's discussion of tying the wings in reverse, folding them back over, and using a figure-eight thread pattern to secure, lift, and separate the sides.  

The wing in the fly I posted needs much work.  It’ll fish though.  I’m posting a pic from Shewey’s book of a vintage/original Spey fly.  I have a lot to learn.  These guys were good.  They also tied by hand. So elegant.