Double K Reverse Spider

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A fly which is not quite like the average saltwater fly, but amazingly efficient. And you get the slightly similar Tsunami Warning as an added bonus.

By Kelvin Kleinman

This is another pattern that I developed, which I have had amazing success with. I call it the Double K Reverse Spider

This is a pattern originally developed for fishing the Stillaguamish River for Sea Run Cutthroat trout by Al Knudsen in the 1920's and then altered by guide Mike Kinney in the 1970's the materials are the same but the way they are tied in are reversed. These flies are known as the Knudsen Spider and the Reverse Spider.

The traditional Knudsen has chenille tied in as the body with a mallard flank palmered in a way that it the flank folds back over the body and, in fact, almost completely masks it.
The hackle is tied in first, immediately behind the hook's eye, by the tip, with the stem curving down and forward of the hook eye. It is wound back along the hook shank, one turn immediately behind the last it helps to shape the feather fibers forward to form a tight cone with the tips pointing out over the eye.
So the fly is tied from the eye to the bend where it is tied off.
The cone that is formed by the feather fibers has an amazing amount of movement and life like appearance when stripped.
The slightest current or movement of the fly causes the coned shape flank to pulse in the water.

The reverse spider has been a "go to fly" for sea-run cutthroat anglers in Washington and Oregon in both salt and fresh water for these anadromous fish.
While working on a shrimp imitation pattern I developed a double Reverse Spider which includes a second Mallard flank or Guinea Fowl feather half way down the shank of the hook.
I also replaced the chenille with dubbing so I could better control the taper of the fly and have a wider range of colors to the fly. I also tie a version with a hackle palmered toward the rear of the hook I call this version the Tsunami Warning based on the wake fish leave chasing this fly. Surprisingly I found the added mallard flank gave the fly more buoyancy and found when stripped quickly the fly will leave a wake from the water it displaces as it moves through the subsurface.

Watching large fish torpedo toward it as it moves along just under the surface prior to the strike can be as much fun as the fight once they are on.

I have often caught fish after fish on this fly while others fishing the same beach go without so mush as a hit.

While this was initially intended to be a salt water beach fly the amount of lifelike movement in it has hooked steelhead in rivers and small- and largemouth bass in lakes.

The Double K Reverse Spider

Type	Cold saltwater fly
Originator	Kelvin Kleinman
Year of origin	2009
Difficulty	Easy

Materials

Hook	Saltwater hook of your choice - size 4-2
Tying thread	Orange
First hackle	Mallard flank
Dubbing	Bright orange
Second hackle	Orange Guinea fowl
Last dubbing	Bright orange
"head"	Tyring thread

Tsunami Warning

Type	Cold saltwater fly
Originator	Kelvin Kleiman
Year of origin	2009
Difficulty	Easy

Materials

Hook	Saltwater hook of your choice - size 4-2
Thread	Orange
First hackle	Mallard flank
Second, palmered hackle	Furnace
Body	Bright orange dubbing
"head"	Tying thread with varnish