Cahill Bivisible Spider - Arnold Gingrich

[Eperous]

CJ - ya the man for hanging tough on this serach... a journey that I have been on for many years now...

That said, I have to agree with Narco, or Dennis - lost track - who long ago suggested that the pattern listed in J. Edson Leonard's materpiece, Flies, is it... given the Mills' catalog caveat that the spider is the exact same pattern as the Cahill Bivisible, only tied on #16 dry hooks with larger hackle... all that said, some 15-18 years ago while working a summer camp job up at the Beaverkill Valley Inn, I would have sworn that I saw a Catskill mountain lion cub in living flesh.... that's my story, and I'm sticking with it, Cahill Bivisible Spider aside...

Ed

[Eperous]

Well, I finally got to it... I fished the upper Neversink a few hours today using a Cahill Bivisible Spider for the first time and caught several small wild brook trout... Here's the first...



Now I can hardly wait for flows in the Esopus to drop so I can try this dry fly where the late Arnold Gingrich wrote glowingly about it...

Ed

[catskilljohn]

That is great Ed!

Those little brookies are the best CJ

[northcountryman]

There is NOTHING that I enjoy more when fly-fishing than catching small to medium sized brookies in a small mountain stream on dries!! 2 yrs ago, I fished the Esopus headwaters and had a blast!! Fish were numerous and real spooky, ALL small brookies and would readily take dries AS LONG AS you were completely hidden!! When I first arrived at my "spot", didn't take me long to learn that I wasn't going to catch squat unless I concealed myself better. Eventually, I had good success in a large pool loaded w/ brookies when I laid down on my side and cast into the center of the pool!! If I stood up, the fish scattered and would hit nothing! Actually, I remember that the only way I could present the fly properly that day was to lay on my right side and cast leftie!! now, compared to many of you gentleman, I know I am relatively green and inexperienced in fly-fishing skill level but nevertheless, I was proud of my efforts that day as it seemed to be something out of a flyfishing book or magazine, you know? I will never forget that day and that's why I fly fish!!

[Eperous]

Cahill BiVisible
hackle - Brn palmer with white front

body -Gray dubbing

tail- br (tan bar) wood dock

tip - Gold

Page 303 Donald DuBois "The Flyfisherman's Handbook of TROUT FLIES"

CJ - since you asked, I would have to agree with Nacro... w/o totally repeating what I posted on Clarks Classic Rod Forum, I recently acquired a reprint of William Mills & Son 1927 catalog, a la Amazon.... Gingrich purchased this fly from Mills, per what he wrote... though this catalog did NOT list this pattern, on page 47 it lists several "Bi-visible hackle dry flies" and right below a few more "Bi-visible Spider Flies". It goes on to state that flies are similar except Spiders are tied with "specially selected extra long hackles". It's all circumstantial evidence, but I think Nacro is on to something. J Edison Leonard, in Flies, provides the same pattern.

Ed

PS - Way back when, 4/06/10, Dennis provided the same info up above, except we - I - didn't have the glue - Mills catalog - to hold all of this together. The case is NOT closed yet, but evidence is building...

Not to beat a dead horse, BUT this evening while reading Bill Sturgis' 1940 book, Fly-Tying, I noticed the author included three patterns for Bivisible Spiders - Brown, Grey, & Buff... of note, Sturgis writes that the hackle on a "bivisible spider" is "nearly twice the normal length" which supports what the Mills catalog also stated above... I enjoy reading these old books, hoping to see what trout fishing and fly tying looked like through the eyes of notables from a different era, no longer with us...

Gents, it all hangs together...

Ed

[catskilljohn]

I think with that [and maybe 1 more ] we can assume the cahill bivisible spider is dressed as above, with long hackles. I have been tying and fishing this fly since our first posts, and what a light, boyant little charmer it is! Glad your keeping it alive Ed, its worth digging up again. CJ

[garys37]

Ed,

I believe that pattern is probably correct, excpt that Gingrich probably used the "Spider" terminology when he tied it with Variant-size or even longer hackles, and might have omitted or shortened the tail.

Gary Soucie

[catskilljohn]

We have a new player boys...deal him in

Welcome to the forum Gary, and thanks for bringing this back to the top CJ

[Eperous]

Ed,

I believe that pattern is probably correct, excpt that Gingrich probably used the "Spider" terminology when he tied it with Variant-size or even longer hackles, and might have omitted or shortened the tail.

Gary Soucie

Gary...welcome, and you could be correct - except Gingrich didn't tie his own flies, he purchased them from William Mills & Son, per Arnold's writings on this topic... and Mills notes that the "Bivisible Spider" is the same as their Bivisible pattern - only tied on a #16 hook and with "extra long hackle"... that said, my Mills catalog does NOT provide a pattern for their Bivisible patterns, so you could be on to somthing...

Ed

[troutingintas]

If it's called the Cahill Bivisible Spider and it was created in the 1930's, one would think that it would be a dry bivisible fly modelled on the wet Cahill.
When where those old wet Cahill dark and light patterns adapted to the Cahill dry flies we see today?
Would not the front hackle replace the wood duck wing and be tied with extra long wood duck fibers (perhaps tied in using the same method as that used to make the 'Cinberg' (Dr. Bernard Cinberg)).

If I had to design one only knowing the name of the dressing, surmising that the fly was created in the 1930's, my rendering of the pattern would be:

Cahill Bivisible Spider (dark)
Hook: 12 -16.
Thread: Black
Tail: Lemon wood duck fibers or dark ginger cock.
Body: Muskrat dubbing.
Hackle: Dark ginger cock palmered.
Front hackle: Lemon wood duck flank fibers extra long.

Cahill Bivisible Spider (light)
Hook: 12 -16.
Thread: Black
Tail: Wood duck fibers or light ginger cock.
Body: Cream fur dubbing.
Hackle: Light ginger cock palmered.
Front hackle: Wood duck flank fibers extra long.