Fishing the rusty spinner fly

[Rusty Spinner]

I was inspired by the current post about Do Wings Matter? and didn't want to hijack that thread when rusty spinners were mentioned. I first fell in love with this fly on the upper Delaware and have pounded many big fish all over the country on this fly in various sizes over the years. It is hands down my favorite fly to fish and I carry them in sizes 20 to 8. For me, the spinner fall is religion. I find it a highly effective pattern for searching, for fishing during a hatch and of course for spinner falls. It presents an easy meal and trout know it because they cannot fly off, they're either dead on the water or dying and unable to fly.

The "wings" post hled mostly agreement on the fact that wings are critical for this pattern and we all know it as the figure of a cross more or less. But have you ever picked up a handful of spinners from the water's surface? How many spent mayflies actually float downstream looking like the flies that we tie? Many to be sure, but not nearly all. I see so many where they have fallen over on their side and both wings are on one side of the bug on the water's surface. Other times you'll notice that many die curled up and not at all straight like we tie them.

Anyone ever tie something out of the ordinary for this pattern? I realize that tying a single wing, for example, will impart spin to the fly and mess up your tippet as you cast it several times, but I'm wondering if any of you has tied one up on a emerger hook to mimic the curled up position or other methods. I may have to experiment with my favorite fly this tying season and give them a try come April...wondering what others think about this?