Friday Fly Day - Autumn Spinners: The Patterns

So if you didn't get see yesterday’s Techy Thursday dropping of knowledge on spinner falls, then you need to go check it. If you caught it, then here is the dime on tactical spinner imitations to keep that rod bent.

The key to a good spinner pattern is that it should be tied sparse, or appear sparse when in the surface. Once you have that sorted, then it must be designed to ride in the film, not on it. Then it must be presented drag free to often choosy fish... that part is up to you!

Dore’s Mataura Spinner:

The quintessential, soft prey image spent spinner imitation. A general go to in sizes 16 & 18 that won’t spin up your 5x tippet.

CDC Spinner:

Fluffier yet still sexy, this offers an alternative to the Dore’s Spinner and excels in the bigger sizes on bigger water. Sz12-18.

Quill Spinner:

The Rusty Spinner in sz12-16, or the Brown Spinner in sz12-18 deliver. A sparse, dark, parachute style spinner perfect for riffly water or when a wee wet or soft hackle needs to be suspended beneath. The dark post provides a great silhouette against morning, or evening light. The light parachute hackle offers a different footprint to the above CDC patterns in the surface and again offers options... sometimes you need many.

Additional tip from Chris:

Another benefit of a CDC wing pattern is that the wing can be wetted if required and your spinner pattern sunk. In the later stages of, and immediately following a spinner fall trout can often be found gorging themselves on drowned / sunken spinners around the back eddies, backwaters, and slack water edges, as well as the base of riffles. This a phase that stumps many anglers as they can see fish feeding subsurface and fire away unsuccessfully with their usual hare fur, or pheasant style nymphs. Bet most y'all didn't know that!