william anderson

This fly is usually tied a little heavier, fuller and often with a black tail, but it has been adopted as a North Country Spider in recent years. Certainly one of my favorites.

Thank you. I hope you'll report back once you get these on the water. My tying has always been very simple, North Country Spiders and flymphs, etc, and this fly just makes me happy. I have been fishing it on point with a soft-hackle fly as a dropper about 18" above on a 12-14' leader. Fishing this season have been a real struggle with most of my outings plagued by low water and very bright days. But those times when it's all working, it's been very very good.

I tie this pattern to different profiles and in three sizes 16,14 and 12, but this is basically the construction. Sawyer was imitating a particular species on his water, and his ties were typically a bit more slender than this particular tie. You can vary the amount of wire to help determine how far it will sink and to alter the profile. This one is how I have tied it most often.

I've had a couple days fishing this season when my fishing buddy and we ask ourselves why do we even tie anything else. This was all they wanted. You can't count on that or anything else, but it's a very effective pattern and as you say, Sawyer's technique is very impressive in its simplicity. It ticks all the boxes. Sorry for all the typos. I was trying to write the above response from my phone and it alway amazes me how much trouble I have doing that.

Yes, the fly is tied tail, abdomen amd wing case all from the same few herl fibers. Underbody of wire creating a bulge thorax and then to the bend. Trap the pheasant tail herl and bend to create the tail, twist these fibers around the wire and bring this up to the thorax, bring the wire to the eye and trap the remainder of the herl lengths behind the eye, bring the wire back behind the thorax, pull the herl back to begin the wing case, trap it behind the thorax and bring the wire back behind the eye, bring the herls back again to the eye, trap it and bring the wire back behind the wing case one last time, being the herls back over the wing case and trap it behind the thorax for the last time. Whip finish behind the wing case and trim herl waste.

Pheasant Tail Nymph - per Frank Sawyer

This little #16 nymph is tied as Sawyer tied his Pheasant Tailed Nymphs, but using the dark gray and white spotted guinea tail feather.

Thanks. I like to tie with snowshoe foot and I always do very well with these lively bodies on soft hacked flies. The snow shoe becomes very translucent when wet and I was hoping to get a larger halo effect as with other flymphs but with the added sparkle, not unlike the Antron in a Lafontaine pattern. Not to mention woodcock just makes a beautiful soft hackle paired with most anything. =)

Snowshoe foot underfur prespun on green silk on a Clark's spinning block. Should be very lively. [/url]">http://http://s47.photobucket.com/user/wandersonnow/media/Best%20of%202015/Snowshoe%20and%20Woodcock%20Caddis_zpsxxsq5igx.jpg.html'> William

Thanks, trout guy. I love these herl bodied spiders. Carl, I'm not sure of the nomenclature for the hierarchy of tail feathers, but it's one of the shorter and softer tall feathers. It's a softer texture than the most primary of the tail feathers, more like a heron feather.

Thanks, trout guy. I love these herl bodied spiders. Carl, I'm not sure of the nomenclature for the hierarchy of tail feathers, but it's one of the shorter and softer tall feathers. It's a softer texture than the most primary of the tail feathers, more like a heron feather.

Tommy.....holy crap. That's really cool. For those who are still presenting their fly patterns as a single image...time to step up. Very well done.

Hook: #14 Daiichi 1180 dry Thread: 14/0 brown Hackle: Woodcock upper covert Rib: Dark copper uni-wire small Body: 2-3 goose barbs [/url]">http://http://s47.photobucket.com/user/wandersonnow/media/Best%20of%202015/Woodcock%20and%20Goose%202_zpslqyeeruo.jpg.html'>

Yes...of course. A small tannish gray shrimp in the Avon. I must have had something else on my mind. Avon. thanks. w

Enough changes to the original to keep from qualifying as a Zug Bug, but not so different. Something to try in the next couple weeks kicking around central PA.

That's just the way I wish my grhe nymphs looked. This is a killer set. Nice tying.

msbp, I don't think you'll find a consensus on this question, but I would fish a few and see what your species prefer or think of them in terms of a local food item, or just find the tapered/topedo shape that you find appealing. They will all work and everyone tied them differently. Many tiers use a curved scud hook, not a bad choice as this is a good scud imitation. Others use a short straight shank hook when tying them squat and chubby as cress bug imitations for spring creeks. I like the slight curve, wide gap and large eye of this Orvis beadhead nymph hook. The large eye helps keep a tight turn of yarn at the eye from coming undone over the eye after a few fish. I used this hook for all the "comparative" versions to eliminate the variables so we could just look at the yarns/wire combinations. I do like this hook in general as it serves the purpose of most larva or other "food stuff" profiles. These can be deadly in a #10 or #8 nymph hook as a crane fly larva. Sawyer was imitating a small tannish gray shrimp in the Test, his local stream and used a variety of sizes, but all on a standard straight shank down eye hook. It's an adaptive pattern, so your hook choice is going to have to coincide with what's effective for you and what you imagine them to imitate. [/url]">http://http://s47.photobucket.com/user/wandersonnow/media/miscellaneous/Killer%20Bugs%20and%20Yarns/KBChad45401_zpsbaf22fe5.jpg.html'>

Thanks again, fellas. It's cool to hear some of the variations on this original theme. Cdc body sounds awesome. A hare dubbing blend sounds good too. I shaved down the top of oneof the feet as well for some spiky nymph dubbing. I keep a very small glass candle holder on my desk with water in it. It helps sometimes to just toss flies in it as I'm tying. Sometimes they float much longer it higher than you expect or the materials change drastically. If the under fur from the snow shoe foot is used for the dubbing, every color used on the body comes through very bright, not than you might expect unless you fish this pattern often. Green shows up vibrant.

Will, I like your version. It's very hard to mess these up, but to try and do something consistent and visually intentional is a task. I used Uni thread 8/0 in Rusty Orange. It really shows through very well. I understand the originals were tied with red thread. I've tied a row with gold thread in #16 and a row with green. I suspect these would do well for green caddis as well. It's a shame there are so many other things to be done before getting out on the water. I think I could spend a lot of time fooling with these usuals. Such a fantastic pattern. w

Frank, these flies always look like they could walk off the table. Fun to tie and more fun to fish. This is a beautiful set.

I've been fooling with Usuals using the snowshoe foot hairs as tails and wings and the underfur from the foot as the body dubbing. I've tied the wing in a very comparadun manner, rather than the bulky wide/post style. My sympathies are with the comparaduns for the past couple years and I can't wait to fish this box this season. w

Silver Creek, that's a great shot of you and Phil and I love the show series of pics showing his own exploration and mild obsession with the pattern. I have pics of KB's using real 477 and my results are quite different from Phil's and I hope maybe to reshoot them or just come to terms with the variations, but I would feel more confident in my conclusions if our results were closer. Maybe a matter of him sending me three of his using the real 477 and I would send him three, each of us using our standardized shooting set up and see if that's the issue or if it's something else. I feel the mire beginning to pull me in until this is resolved. Nothing in the world to do with fishing the flies, that's all resolved, just the fun of exploration and trial. Something I won't try to defend. =) I do have the "Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine", color #1214 ("Steel Cut Oats"), dye lot #2J9711 on the way. w

The contemporary substitutes are easy to find. Especially the Jamieson Shetland Spindrift yarns. The original Chadwicks are around but much more difficult to source. I have a couple cards of the original and several samples from generous friends. There are differences even within the original 477 as there is with any yarn. This link might be helpful. http://www.williamsfavorite.com/killer-bug-gallery.html (if sharing my sites link here is unacceptable please delete it. The link to my site in my signature is as useful.) Thanks for the inquiry.

Carl, this really is a beautiful tie. One of my favorites of your flies.

FlaFly, I've tied these flies with a number of different yarns for a few years and recently went on a bender of trying to work out a particular technique and combinations of materials. Not that it matters, they all work and it's always fun to fish these. So I filled a box, and I share, so by the end of the season, there should be a nice dent in this group. Adam, I can relate to that. Not unlike when you get a sweet cape and go to put it away to find it's the third one. =) I have a buddy in Holland who uses those beads on a lot of his nymphs and swears by them. Killer Bugs are about as simple as a fly can get, but everyone still ties them a little differently. William