Yarn Wing Spinner HOOK: #12-20 standard fine-wire dry fly (Tiemco 101 shown). THREAD: 70-denier Ultra Thread, color to match dubbing. TAIL: Light dun Microfibetts. BODY: Superfine dubbing, color to match natural. WING: White Hi-Vis yarn (Dan Bailey's). Note: Poly, Antron, and Darlon yarn also work well for this pattern.

When a mayfly nymph rises to the surface, splits open, and the adult mayfly emerges with upright opaque wings, fly fishers call the insect a mayfly dun and imitate it with fly patterns with upright wings, like the natural. Mayfly duns are available to trout immediately after they emerge from their nymphal shuck, but they soon fly to streamside vegetation where they once again shed their skins and emerge anew as mayfly spinners. Compared to duns, spinners have long tails, slim bodies, and clear wings.

Spinners gather together over the water in sometimes huge swarms where they mate, lay eggs, and fall to the water spent which means their wings are not upright but horizontal and flush with the surface of the water. Sometimes mayfly duns hatch over a long period of time, but normally spinners fall all at once, and cause the kind of feeding frenzy fly fishers dream of.

Perhaps the easiest way to imitate the horizontal wings of this important stage of the mayfly lifecycle are with various types of yarn such as Antron, polypropylene, or Hi Vis with a dubbed body. Just remember to use a sparse, tightly twisted dubbing rope for a slim-profile body. Spinners have long tails, and large wings, but short, slender bodies. With small flies (#18 and smaller) you can skip the dubbing entirely and just build the body from thread.

CLICK HERE for a detailed video on how to tie a Yarn-wing Spinner.

Tying Steps

Step 1. Attach the thread to the hook and wrap back to above the barb. Add a tiny amount of dubbing to your thread and wrap a small ball directly above the barb. Measure and place two Microfibetts along the top of the hook shank so they extend past the bend 1 ½ to 2 times the length of the hook shank. Use a pinch wrap to tie them down and then wrap back over the fibers toward the dubbing ball in close touching turns. As your thread wraps approach the dubbing ball, use your fingers to position the Microfibetts so they are on opposite sides of the dubbing ball. The dubbing causes the Microfibetts to deflect outward giving the appearance of real mayfly tails and distributes the weight of the fly across a greater surface area.

Step 2. Lay a 2-inch length of Hi-Vis yarn perpendicular to and on top of the hook shank just in front of the body. Make three wraps around the hook shank crossing the yarn diagonally, and then make three diagonal wraps in the other direction. Position the wings correctly and then add two to three final cross wraps to secure the wing.

Step 3. Make a slim dubbing rope and complete the fly body. Make normal circular wraps behind and in front of the wing but also make X wraps over the tie-in point of the wing to cover the thread wraps and create a slightly thicker thorax.

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