dezza
Well-known member
Many years ago, to be honest during the 70s, I caught a fairly large wolf spider in my garden using a beer glass and a piece of cardboard. I transferred the spider to a jam jar, knocked a few holes in the lid and kept it in the boot of my car.
You see I had an idea.
There are several species of wolf spider in South Africa and this was one of the biggest with a body of about 1 inch long and a leg span of about 3 inches. They are wandering hunters and whilst they will bite, the poison is no more dangerous than a bee sting.
The following weekend I went trout fishing to my club water about 160 miles away just beyond a small town called Belfast. I arrived at the farm and pulled up alongside Dam 1 as we called it to see if I could see any fish rising. The wind was blowing from the shore and I thought of the spider. It was still alive as I emptied it on the surface of the water. It floated out it's legs flailing in all directions in the surface film. It had gone about 20 yards from shore when there came a tremendous swirl and a noise which sounded like a "chomp". The spider was gone.
The other night I had a dream about this very spider. It appeared in my tiny garden in Rotherham. I grabbed a beer glass and captured it. Instead of me feeding it to a trout, the spider grew to an enormous size and started to attack me.
I woke up in a sweat.
But I went down to my fly tying bench and proceeded to create a fair imitation of that spider using spun deer hair, cree hackles and knotted flexi-floss for the legs. It looks the ticket and next time I go trout fishing, which hopefully will be tomorrow, I'll give it a twirl.
Don't ask me to put up a picture of this spider, it looks too realistic and I don't want PJ having a heart attack.
If I catch a trout on it, I will give it a name. Maybe Tegenaria or Septimus or Shelob.
Or I just might name it after More Spiders himself.
You see I had an idea.
There are several species of wolf spider in South Africa and this was one of the biggest with a body of about 1 inch long and a leg span of about 3 inches. They are wandering hunters and whilst they will bite, the poison is no more dangerous than a bee sting.
The following weekend I went trout fishing to my club water about 160 miles away just beyond a small town called Belfast. I arrived at the farm and pulled up alongside Dam 1 as we called it to see if I could see any fish rising. The wind was blowing from the shore and I thought of the spider. It was still alive as I emptied it on the surface of the water. It floated out it's legs flailing in all directions in the surface film. It had gone about 20 yards from shore when there came a tremendous swirl and a noise which sounded like a "chomp". The spider was gone.
The other night I had a dream about this very spider. It appeared in my tiny garden in Rotherham. I grabbed a beer glass and captured it. Instead of me feeding it to a trout, the spider grew to an enormous size and started to attack me.
I woke up in a sweat.
But I went down to my fly tying bench and proceeded to create a fair imitation of that spider using spun deer hair, cree hackles and knotted flexi-floss for the legs. It looks the ticket and next time I go trout fishing, which hopefully will be tomorrow, I'll give it a twirl.
Don't ask me to put up a picture of this spider, it looks too realistic and I don't want PJ having a heart attack.
If I catch a trout on it, I will give it a name. Maybe Tegenaria or Septimus or Shelob.
Or I just might name it after More Spiders himself.
