Spey Flies


A Gold Riach from P.D Malloch

 

This page is devoted to the Spey fly - In the hope that is will help us appreciate what a proper Spey fly should look like, most modern ties have the wing too low and short. We start with some wise words on the Spey Fly by Mr Knox - who penned the go-to book for old Spey Patterns "Autumns on the Spey", then to Mr Brown for some instructions on how to tie the Spey fly and what a "Spey hackle" is and finaly we look at some examples of vintage flies and list some pattern details - but please note that I have not researched Spey flies to the same extent as I have the Dee style fly. At the bottom of the page is a great sequence of step by step instructions of how to tie a Spey fly.


Autumns on the Spey - A.E. Knox published 1872

Spey flies, properly so-called, are simple and unassuming both in composition and appearance, yet they are tied with as much skill and care by the best native artists as is exhibited in the fabrication of the most complicated, gaudy lures, formerly imported from Ireland, but now equally well known on the Shannon and the Tweed, and many other Scottish as well as Norwegian rivers. It is true that, of late years, some of these showy strangers have been introduced here, and under certain conditions of sky and water are found more effective than any of the aboriginal type, but, as a general rule, I have found that newly-run fish in the lower waters are more readily captured with flies of the modest native pattern than with the most brilliant exotics that can be produced by a combination of humming-bird, blue and yellow macaw, orange-breasted toucan and the variegated metallic plumage of the golden pheasant.

Notwithstanding the subdued tone and apparent simplicity of all these Spey flies, and a certain family resemblance, if I may use the expression, that pervades them all, yet after a little practice they may be easily distinguished from each other, and however trifling and insignificant these minute differences may appear to the uninitiated, yet in the eyes of the experienced native fisherman they are of considerable importance, and when salmon are shy, success is frequently supposed to depend upon their due appreciation.

It may be hardly necessary to observe, that the component parts of each sort of fly are unaffected by its size. This varies considerably. Those which are in vogue during the spring months in the upper waters, when the river is exceedingly high and rapid and the pools unusually deep, being really enormous compared with their minute representatives which are generally found most successful in the summer months and early autumn, but much must be left to the judgment of the fisherman himself; there is no role without an exception, and I have frequently found it necessary, after a moderate rise of the water, to employ flies twice as large as those which I had found of faultless dimensions but a few days before. The following is a list of old Spey flies. To every fisherman on the river it will be sufficient to say that the descriptions are taken from specimens tied by that accomplished artist, Shanks, of Craigellachie, of whom Mr. Barney Maguire, if he had ever visited the Spey, might perhaps have sung : —

There's Mister Shanks too, upon the banks too,

Och that’s the fellow that can throw a loine,

A clever boy too, he can tie a floy too,

For art and practice he does both comboine.

Several varieties have of late years been added, which, though modest and unassuming compared with the gaudy exotics to which I have already alluded, must still be considered innovations, partaking as they do, more or less, of the plumage of the golden pheasant; they are consequently omitted from the [above] list, which professes to be nothing but a brief descriptive catalogue of old Spey flies.

N.B. — The dubbing — or bodies — of all these flies is composed of Berlin wool.

How to tie Spey Flies - by William Brown, tackle maker, Aberdeen

Browns Spey flies, 24^th Jan 1891, R.B. Marston, Fishing Gazette

I must content myself this week with giving illustrations for two favourites, the Lady Caroline and the Carron, and some most useful remarks on the dressing of Spey flies generally, kindly sent to me by Mr. Brown, of George Street, Aberdeen, who makes these and all other standard salmon flies to perfection.

Mr. Brown says:-

“To describe the dressing of a Spey fly generally, and not any pattern in particular, I think the clearest plan would be to follow the tabulated form used in the Badminton volume on “Fishing,” when describing the ordinary standard flies, which would show these particular constructions differ in their in their respective parts from the well known standards. Thus, an ordinary fancy fly, with say a wool or fur body, would have all the parts which are indicated in italics, where as the Spey fly takes only those that are described, viz:-

“Tag. – None.

“Tail. – None.

“Butt. – None.

“Body. – Usually consists of common wool mixed or dyed to the shade of colour required, and wrapped round the body tightly. There is no picking out or “furriness” about the body of a Spey fly; and it is begun on the shank in a line with the point of the hook, it has a dumpy disproportionate appearance.

“Ribbed. – There are invariably three tinsels down the body – a flat, and two threads; one of the threads silver, the other gold (on some patterns these are replaced by coloured silk threads). The flat and one thread is wound round the body in three turns, room being left for the second thread, which is not wound until after the hackle is put on.

“Hackle. – The hackle is perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the Spey fly, and the greatest puzzle both to amateur and professional fly-tiers. It is not, properly speaking a hackle, but it is taken off that part of the cock which might be called the ‘saddle,’ or near the tail. The best feathers hang with a graceful curve from the root of the tail down the side of it, and when the fibres are extended to right angles with the stem, they will be found to be of equal length butt to tip, not tapering as in a hackle. The feather thus described is very soft in fibre, and when dressed on the fly, has a very different appearance to the ordinary cock’s hackle, and a very different effect in the water.

Spey Cock Hackle

Now as the hackle of the Spey fly differs from ordinary hackles, so does the manner of putting it on. The ordinary standard fly has the hackle tied in, or begun, at the small tip or point. The Spey fly has it tied in, or begun, at the butt or thick end of the stem. Having cleaned off the downiest part of the fibre at the butt-end, and left just a little of the gray (as sort of half ‘down,’ half fibre), and having seen that the fibre is long enough to extend about half an inch beyond the bend of the hook – the stem is tied in at the very commencement of the body, along with the tinsels. When the two tinsels – a flat and a thread – have been wound to the right hand, the hackle is taken and wound to the left hand. The tinsel is then wound to the right, parallel with the other two, and across the hackle stem at every turn. When fixed, a needle is required to relieve those fibres of the hackle which may have been tied down by the crossing tinsel. The fly is ready for the –

“Throat Hackle, which is generally teal, wound in the ordinary fashion.

“Wings are generally two double strips of brown mallard, not extending much above the length of the body, and set to permit the natural curve of the feather. The two wings are set quite apart, and are put on separately.

“Sides. – None.

“Horns. – None.

“Head. – Black silk.”   

Fancy Speys

Writing in the 1890s - a keen Spey Fisher :

Ah me! These be gaudy, flaunting, flashy days! Our sober Spey, in the matter of salmon fly-hooks, is gradually yielding to the garish influence of the times. Spey salmon now begin to allow themselves to be captured by such indecorous and revolutionary fly-hooks as the "Canary" and the "Silver Doctor." Jaunty men in loud suits of dittoes have come into the north country, and display fly-books that vie in the variegated brilliancy of their contents with a Dutch tulip bed. We staunch adherents to the traditional Spey blacks and browns, we who have bred Spey cocks for the sake of their feathers, and have sworn through good report and through evil report by the pig's down or Berlin wool for body, the Spey cock for hackle, and the mallard drake for wings, have jeered at the kaleidoscopic fantasticality of the leaves of their fly-books turned over by adventurers from the south country and Ireland; and have sneered at the notion that a self-respecting Spey salmon would so far demoralise himself as to be allured by a miniature presentation of Liberty's shop-window. But the salmon has not regarded the matter from our conservative point of view; and now we, too, ruefully resort to the "canary" as a dropper when conditions of atmosphere and water seem to favour that gaudy implement. And it must be owned that even before the "twopence-coloured" gentry came among us from distant parts, we, the natives, had been side-tracking from the exclusive use of the old-fashioned sombre flies into the occasional use of gayer yet still modest "fancies." Of specific Spey hooks in favour at the present time the following is, perhaps, a fairly correct and comprehensive list: purple king, green king, black king, silver heron, gold heron, black dog, silver riach, gold riach, black heron, silver green, gold green, Lady Caroline, carron, black fancy, silver spale, gold spale, culdrain, dallas, silver thumbie, Sebastopol, Lady Florence March,  gold purpie, and gled (deadly in "snawbree"). The Spey cock--a cross between the Hamburg cock and the old Scottish mottled hen--was fifty years ago bred all along Speyside expressly for its feathers, used in dressing salmon flies; but the breed is all but extinct now, or rather, perhaps, has been crossed and re-crossed out of recognition. It is said, however, to be still maintained in the parish of Advie, and when the late Mr. Bass had the Tulchan shootings and fishings his head keeper used to breed and sell Spey cocks.

So what does a really old Spey Fly look like?

You will see some vintage examples in the Patterns section below, some of these come from recognised sources such as JAJ Munro of Aberlour. I will add to this over time. In the mean time here is an example of a particularly large and old Spey - showing that often the wing is secondary to the hackle - the fly was in a bit of a state and has been brought back to life by Bob Frandsen by replacing the hackle - note that in a true Spey fly the hackle is always all round the shank of the hook - some modern tiers like to stroke the hackle so it is all below the hook, also with the old ones the wing does not usually hug the hooks shank (difficult to do with the full hackle anyway) - some modern flies may look good but they are not really the way it was done in the "old days", so, I guess, you have to ask if you are tying a fly in the original style, a modern take on the old style or a fly to fish with (when anything thing goes) - the difference between a "Spey Fly" or a "Spey Style Fly". Food for thought and long discussions over a pint! Note the hook, although huge, perfect proportions...

The before - wing has not been damaged but the hackle is very broken or "mothed"

The after - body, ribbing and wing retained, new hackle and head

Another "hospital case" that received treatment from Bob Frandsen - same size and from the same wallet as above (these were all Spey Flies)

Note that in this case the wing material is Turkey and the body hackle is Heron

Restored !

Ian Letham sent me some pictures of a couple of nice spey flies that came in a fold of paper with some pattern details and dressing hints, I have put slightly larger photos of the individual flies in the Pattern section, here is a photo of both with the text, and then the text typed out:

The text from the wrapper:

Lady Caroline

Green King body wool*.  Gold and silver tinsel with 2 threads.  One gold, one silver.  Grey heron hackle up body and head, golden pheasant breast around the neck. Mallard or Drake Wing. 

Purple King

Purple wool body (red and blue mixed), gold and silver tinsel equal (thread gold and silver and arrange above the feather). Cock Hackle.   Drake Wing. 

Green King

The same only the yellowish* mixture for body.  Cock feather rather richer looking.  Notice the different shade of feathers on bodies of enclosed.

The Patterns

Black Heron


Tied by Bob Frandsen

Black Heron. — Same as the Gold Heron, but instead of the slate-coloured back hackles of the heron, use the tips of the black feathers from the breast of that bird. 

 
Carron


A vintage fly from JAJ Munro of Aberlour-on-Spey c1910-1920 (part of a set of sample flies)


From the fishing Gazette (William Brown)

Browns Spey flies, 24^th Jan 1891, R.B. Marston, Fishing Gazette

Body: Orange wool; about three or four turns of flat silver tinsel.

Hackle: Black heron, wound round the whole length of the body.

Wing: Mallard; long and flat.

In spring and autumn, when the fly is used of larger size, the body is often made of a greenish yellow wool, instead of the orange; and two or three turns of gallina hackle are added at the shoulder.

Knox - Autumns on the Spey

Gold Spiel


Tied by Bob Frandsen

Spey Snow Fly