Ed Engle on Spider Patterns: "Doing It Wrong and Catching Trout"

“Edward R. Hewitt is credited with modifying an existing spider pattern in the 1920s into what he called the ‘Neversink Skater Fly’ (named after his home river, the Neversink in New York). Essentially all he did was reduce the existing spider pattern, which had a tail and some other extraneous parts, to its fundamental elements, which were two extra-long, stiff rooster spade hackles tied onto a fine wire, short-shank, size 16 hook.” Ed Engle gives talks about Edward R. Hewitt’s popularization of spider patterns and offers tips on how to tie and fish them correctly. In the Boulder, Colorado Daily Camera.