The term spinner is generally used only in the context of referring to a small number of Mayflies including Black, Red and Orange Spinners when they are both on the water and in the air. The following Spinner is a generic representation for members of the “Leptophlebiidae” family of Mayflies and the various Highland Duns & Spinners, which are members of the “Oniscigastridae” family. Hatches generally occurs between the months of October and March.
This is the second in the series of three versions of the same fly. This first in the series is the bloodworm version. which is the original colour of the pupa as it emerges from the slime on the lake bottom. Over a short period of time the bloodworm changes to a dark colour with varying amounts of red present as the transformation occurs. As it reaches the surface the dark colour mellows and the pupa assumes a grey or olive colour similar to its terrestrial colour.
Based on the design of the carrot fly this version is particularly appealing to fish feeding on emerging Mayfly in Tasmania’s central and western lake.
This is a variation of a bead head woolly bugger that has worked very well for me in Lake Eucumbene and Tantangara Reservoir on brown trout and on Lake Maroon for bass.
The tie of my fly is very close to David Downey’s fusion of those two flies which he describes as perhaps the best still water fly in the world. I use it as a top dropper attractor and for that reason use a brass rather than a tungsten bead. Particularly in water that is a little discoloured I am confident this fly brings a lot of fish to my team.
Based in Maple Ridge, B.C. Todd Oishi designed his “leach” (Vampires are also a blood sucker hence the name) fly with a tail of black rabbit fur or black marabou and with Vampire Vippy as the body. I have not been able to find any Vampire Vippy and tie my Vampires with UV straggle fritz.
More of a class of fly than a fly in itself because you will find UV crunchers tied a all sorts of colours from black right through to dun colours and pale olives. I like this particular tie because it incorporates peacock herl which is one of my favourite fly tying materials.
Tied with natural seals fur it is a fly that sits well on the water and easily sheds water with a snappy false cast.
Tied with a woolly bugger tail that allows movement within the fly, a plain, painted or anodised tungsten bead for the head that encourages up and down movement and of course plenty of fleeting colour as it is stripped through the water this fly is very much a top class pulling fly… and very effective in that role.
At different times of the year you will start to see swallows dipping on the water feeding on midge. This is the time to start thinking about fishing either damsel buggers or olive woolly buggers because unfortunately for the midge it’s not only swallows that have them on their menu it’s also carnivorous damsel nymphs. Damsel nymphs come in a range of colours ranging from dull browns through to light and dark olives.
