sulphur spinners?

[Daren]

Ok i know this is probably basic knowledge but i thought rusty color spinner patterns were what you use for a sulphur spinner fall, but looking on the internet i found a beautiful sulphur spinner pattern with a yellow cream "sulphur " colored body. i am now confused and looking for some guidance as this hatch is coming up shortly.

thanks a bunch

Daren

 

[Bamboozle]

Darren:

All of the Sulphurs I encounter which are in South Central, North & Southeast PA are creamy yellow to tan in color. The spinners usually have a more segmented look being slightly orange-ish brown on top while cream on the bottom of the abdomen.

The spinner activity is most notable just before the hatch but to be honest; I use a regular dry as opposed to a spent wing spinner pattern during the spinner sex orgy and my dry fly is cream colored.

IMHO the best bet for Sulphurs is nymphs ALL day during the Sulphur season; emergers, wets, or soft hackles before and during the hatch, and duns during.

I never had much luck with spinners; at least where I usually fish.

 

[mnigro]

I've always found them light in color too. The species will dictate the color as well. Yellow duns usually just get a little more pale. I've seen the orange duns get more on the yellowish-orange side, a bit darker than the yellow duns. I also fish a dun during the sulphur spinner fall a lot of the time. I'll throw a parachute pattern w/ a light yellow/cream body and a white post. Cut the post down verry low but leave a nub of white. Helps me see the fly in a heavy fall. Hope this helps.

 

[Daren]

yep
definetly helps, thanks guys. at least i know i was going the wrong direction with rusty spinners for this hatch. i gonna go tie a couple parachutes and a some spent wings in the yellow cream color and see what happens. :lol:

 

[Chaz]

Daren,
Sulphur spinners vary greatly, I have a couple of patterns I use that vary from cream to rusty, thankfully many mayflies have similar spinners in similar sizes so you can use them for several spinner falls.
The males in my area are very rusty the females are more like a rusty tan/yellow so there is a sex difference as there are on many mayflies.

 

[dkile]

Daren,

Next to the Blue Winged Olive (BWO) the "Sulphur" Mayfly has a wide range of variations depending on time of day, month and location. There is the classic little yellow sulphur (Ephemeralla dorothea #18) and larger sulphurs (Ephemeralla invaria #16) that will take place on streams.

I have seen dun hatches on the Gun Powder, MD during the middle of the day and huge hatches on Penns Creek starting at 8:30 in the evening. Regarded by many as sulphurs by there similar yellowish tint, but I would suggest very different mayflies.

Sulphurs can even be lumped in with Light Cahills and Pale Evening Duns by many anglers. It can be really hard to tell to the untrained eye. Heck I have been fly fishing for 25 years and all I know is that I don't have it right!

The classic little yellow sulphur spinner is the the rusty spinner. My experience seems to be that the spinners return to the water in the evening. You will often see a mass of spinners moving from way up high around 7:00 and start hitting the water by 8:00-8:30. I can be a real frenzy we it all goes right.

It is best to know the stream and what to expect by experts in that area. Just as importantly, carry a good collection of spinners in a variety of colors and sizes. Yellows, greens, and rusty brown always seem to work not only for sulphurs, but as good general patterns. My favorites are #18 and #16, but don't embarrassed to have a deep field of #8 or #10. They don't match up with sulphur spinners but are darn fun to have when it gets dark, but that is a different topic.

Dave

 

[flyman]

Daren,
The Sulpher hatch on the Codorus has a rusty tinged spinner about Size 16, the yellow spinner did not work for me there.
Flyman

 

[Padraic]

Sulphurs are not a particular insect, but a collection of bugs that all are light colored and around the same range in size. (Sort of how all caddis are called caddis despite their being, tan, grey, black, brown etc)

Sulphurs can have a lot of different colors, and behaviors based on which species they are. PMD's are sort of orangish in the thorax but yellowish elsewhere. Most species tend to be yellow all over, but some have dun wings and others lighter colored. That's why some guys carry white colored flies and prismatic markers to get the colors right when they at the stream and can see what is coming off. So anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some sulphur spinners are the traditional dark rust color, others very light and other yellow. You really have to catch bugs and match the color to what you see.

 

[Squaretail]

It seems the rusty spinner works more often and at more streams for me, though there are times that it is not the one to use.
Dave is very correct about the size #8 and #10. Use them after its completely dark and the trout seem to have settled down. Every once in a while you will be very surprised at what comes up from the depths to take them. An old timer that doesnt get to fish to much anymore turned me on to them, he calls them B-52's. Caught my largest wild brownie ever out of Clarks after a sulphur spinner fall using that, and anything in general that takes it seems to be of the larger variety.

 

[dkile]

Squaretail,

You have laughing. You are going to have to PM me on who you know on that use term B-52's. This is a term I have been using with my friends for about 15 years after tying these monster rusty spinners up one day and chucking them around at night. I never say the term becuase I think most people wouldn't get it untill you try it and you just see how big they look.

It is some of my favorite fishing in late May and early June hanging out after a late sulphur or BWO hatch has shut down, only to wait for the yet unseen monster B-52's emerge out of the trees at 9:30.

Dave

 

[Wulff-Man]

I saw an article in the Fly Fisherman Magazine web site a few years ago by A.K. Best on a trip he took with John Gierach to the central PA limestoners, about fishing the sulphur hatch. His pattern for both the dun and the spinner was yellow, and he reported having great success. Here’s the short article (you may have to hit “refresh” a couple times, their web site has been acting up a little): AK Best Sulphur

But, the people at Flyfishers Paradise, who would know as well as anybody about central PA flies, give a rust-colored pattern: FFP Sulphur Spinner

I do know that the sulphur spinners in southeast PA are rust colored (at least on Valley Creek and the WB Perkiomen), but they are lighter on the bottom. I hope to find out what color they are on Spring Creek this year.