Tying a Rusty Spinner

[afishinado]

Essential pattern to both tie and fish to match nearly all spent mayflies >

 

[troutbert]

Here's an easy way to make the wings.

Just wrap light dun hackle at the front as for a regular Catskill dry fly.

Then clip a V-shaped notch out of the bottom. Done.

Some people clip the top also, but I don't, because this way it is much easier to see, and the trout don't care.

This is really a killer fly at dusk, during the evening rise.

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Here's an easy way to make the wings.

Just wrap light dun hackle at the front as for a regular Catskill dry fly.

Then clip a V-shaped notch out of the bottom. Done.

Some people clip the top also, but I don't, because this way it is much easier to see, and the trout don't care.

This is really a killer fly at dusk, during the evening rise.

I do something similar.

I tie a parachute style dry fly and the hackle represents the wings of the spinner.'
'
You can leave the hackle as is or trim the hackle fibers fore and aft to represent wings.

I leave the post on for visibility (by me) on the water, but cut it shorter.

The great thing is I can easily convert a dun parachute tie on the stream by just trimming the post short.

I believe hackle looks more like natural wings than synthetic yarn or other tied-in wing material.

 

[timmyt2]

Troutbert could you post a pic of the fly you describe please

 

[troutbert]

afishinado wrote:

troutbert wrote:
Here's an easy way to make the wings.

Just wrap light dun hackle at the front as for a regular Catskill dry fly.

Then clip a V-shaped notch out of the bottom. Done.

Some people clip the top also, but I don't, because this way it is much easier to see, and the trout don't care.

This is really a killer fly at dusk, during the evening rise.

I do something similar.

I tie a parachute style dry fly and the hackle represents the wings of the spinner.'
'
You can leave the hackle as is or trim the hackle fibers fore and aft to represent wings.

I leave the post on for visibility (by me) on the water, but cut it shorter.

The great thing is I can easily convert a dun parachute tie on the stream by just trimming the post short.

I believe hackle looks more like natural wings than synthetic yarn or other tied-in wing material.

I agree that the hackle looks more natural than the synthetic materials.

The parachute spinner sounds very good.

 

[troutbert]

timmyt2 wrote:
Troutbert could you post a pic of the fly you describe please

I don't have the technical know how to do that.

But, you just wind the hackle the same as for a standard dry fly, like an Adams or Cahill etc.

Then when the fly is done, just use your scissors to cut the hackle flat on the bottom, so that the fly lands flush on the water.

Or, as I prefer, instead of cutting it flat on the bottom, cut out a notch on the bottom. That leaves a little more hackle fibers to represent the wings of the spinner.

 

[coyoterahn]

Thanks troutbert. I’m going to tie a few as you described. I like your suggestion.
I guess I’m not to old to learn!

 

[Sylvaneous]

I do the para-spinner almost exclusively. That name, as I know it, was from Bob Jacklyn. A parachute with way over-sized grizzly hackle to the proportions of the spinner wings and a short flourescent post. I use a tuft of fire orange antron.

I forget the guys name but a tyer out west does a black/chartruese in the post for the ultimate visibility contranst; dark, shadow, bright glare. etc. I don't; too much trouble.

For Tricos, I still use the Hi-Vis figure-8 wing.

 

[drakeking412]

I learned this week my spinner game needs worked on. Good post ty.

 

[JeffK]

My go to rusty spinner is a size 18 tied ala Troutbert's suggestion. Easy tie, very effective. May or may not use tails.

A cool March Brown spinner is done the same way with CDL hackles. Need very stiff ones to support such a big spinner.

I tie some paraspinners and Hi Vis/EP fiber ones as well because you never know, especially for the big hatches like sulphurs and tricos. After a while the fish have seen a lot of spinner patterns for sulphurs and tricos and you may need to try something different.

One way to get neater fiber wings is to tie them in a number of bunches. I use 2 fir tricos 3 for sulphurs. I don't tie tails generally for spinners size 20 and below.