I really like Charlie Craven's Hi-viz Rusty Spinner but felt it needed to be beefed up a bit to use in some not-so-gentle water I fish in the summer, so I added more hackle fibers for the tail (skipped the split tail entirely) and an extra turn or two of wound hackle. The combination hackle/Congo Hair wing really stands out in lower light conditions, something I appreciate when trying to pick out these flies with the weird silvery sheen the water takes on at twilight. Also prefer goose biot over stripped quill for the body, mainly because I have a lot of them. I've used this in sizes 12-18 for everything from Hendrickson-PMD-Epeorus and it's been pretty productive; being easy to tie makes it a winner, for me, on all counts.


hook - Dai Riki 320 #12-18
thread - Uni 8/0 rusty brown
tail - hackle fibers ginger
body - goose biot rust
thorax/head - beaver dubbing rust
wing - Congo Hair white
hackle - Golden Badger



Part 1




Mash barb and start thread at 75% point on shank







wrap thread back to shank right above hook barb









spin bobbin to tighten up thread and make a couple wraps to create thread bump (if you prefer a dubbing ball have at it), then wrap forward about one hook eye length









take a feather for tailing (this is a scapular - got a whole bag of them from Charlie Collins years ago and will never use them all up; if it's not as good as prime spade hackle, it's the next best thing)









pull a bunch of fibers off and even up the tips









lay the fibers on top of the hook to mark for length (for spinners, I like a longer tail and use the whole hook length; for duns, I usually use shank length only)









slide back to the tie in point









switch hands









a couple soft wraps









grab the fibers again and start wrapping back to the "bump"