Cree Spider

[Ron Eagle Elk]

The other night I was chatting with Grant Bench about Cree hen capes and I mentioned that I've never pulled a feather from the one I have. He thought I should tie with it and now, so do I. The cape came from Denny Conrad, the late owner/operator of Conranch Hackle out of Elk, WA. It's one of many capes and pelts that Denny thought I should have in my collection. Grant suggested a Baillie's type spider so that's what I did. The hook is a Daiichi 1640, size 14. I like the 1x Short shank and straight eye and the hint of a kerb may help hook fish. The silk is Pearsall's 6A. It should turn a nice mahogany brown when wet. The hackle is, of course, cree hen from Denny Conrad.

[hankaye]

REE< Howdy;

... Wow! Beauty.

hank

[DUBBN]

You always do such good work Ron! What a great little pattern that can imitate so many different insects.

[Mike62]

The fly and the cape are both gorgeous. Nicely tied, Sir.

[letumgo]

I'm going to shorten the name a bit, and call it a 'REE spider!

What a beautiful cree neck! I understand your hesitation from pulling hackle from such a prime neck. One of the finest I've seen.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Thanks, Fellas. I've been reluctant to take feathers from this cape, because...it's just pretty. I had trouble with the hackle stems though. They wanted to wrap straight and true, so much so, that the first couple flies looked like dries. To get the appropriate messy look, I had to wrap the hackle around the tying silk, like Baillie, and palmer it. I think it will fish just fine.

[ginkylady]

Ron, That is an absolutely gorgeous fly!

I now understand what you have said about cree and the properties of silk. Amazing how much the color will change when wet.
You will be hard pressed to find a fish in the whole state that wouldn't eat that!

[gig]

Very nicely tied Ron

[upstatetrout]

Beautiful fly Ron!

Tom

[wsbailey]

That's really a nice fly, Ron!