One-Up Mayfly Spinner
A few years ago I started to experiment with a spinner pattern after a
particularly enlightening experience during a day’s weed cutting and
clearing. There had been a good hatch of fly during the day with some
rising trout, although not a lot, until the spinner was falling. I started
watching the fish (well, it’s better than work) taking the spinner and was
actually tying to see if they wanted male or female flies, (not an unknown
phenomenon) when I realised that rather than choosing the sex of the fly,
the fish were actually concentrating only on the living, half-spent flies.
These flies were at the stage where, having been egg-laying for a period, they
were exhausted and crash landing on the water. Here they struggled for some
time before final collapse and death. During these struggles it is common for
the fly to have one wing trapped in the surface film whilst the other is still
waving free. These were the flies the trout hit with the greatest relish.
I worked on a pattern that night and hit the jackpot for the House guests on
the river the next day with the resultant pattern. It has done very well ever since.
Interestingly, the pattern can be dressed in the colors of the Green Drake for
use on cold, windy days when there are a lot of “cripples” about.
Materials List:
Hook: #10 Sprite Mayfly, or similar fine wire hook 2x - 3x long.
Tail: Dark Melanistic Pheasant tail fibers, almost black - if you
can get them. Moose body hair will also fill the bill.
Body: Two turns pheasant tail then white rabbit fur, turkey
biot or polypropylene.
Thorax: Dubbing of mixed white and black rabbit guard hairs.
(Grey squirrel body is an ideal alternative.)
Wing: Dun and dark brown elk. (I like mane or even
Texas Whitetail if I can get it - either is finer.)
Originally published April 10, 2000 on Fly Anglers Online by Philip White.