Spinner Wings

fritz

fritz

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Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
676
What is best material to use for wings on spinners?
 
PolyPro Yarn or CDC or a combination of both is what I've been using lately.
 
I useweb wing its very durable and if you use a wing cutter you can;t get a more realistic look. There is a pic of a spinner in last years Swap page I made with this stuff. You can't destroy these wings...
 
The web wing is ok to use on larger flies but on small flies I'm not a fan of it and honestly I've stopped using the material all together. It does fray and I used to use it for caddis wings and I've found its not very durrable and tends to not keep its shape...its too flexable and needs to be stiffer material.
 
I like to use organza, it's great for smaller spinners. If I don't use that I will use snowshoe hare or packing foam.
 
bigjohn58 wrote:
The web wing is ok to use on larger flies but on small flies I'm not a fan of it and honestly I've stopped using the material all together. It does fray and I used to use it for caddis wings and I've found its not very durrable and tends to not keep its shape...its too flexable and needs to be stiffer material.

I've never had any of those problems...and last year on Pine I had a large caddis made with these wings but needed a mayfly with bigger wings and didn;t have one...I split the caddis wing down the middle and because this stuff was so durable I was able to pull the split wings into a vertical position and fish this as a mayfly and catch fish that ignored the same fly when it resembled a caddis. I used it for lots of different flies now especially smaller caddis.
 
I use white poly yarn for spinner wings. I don't know if it is the best material out there, but it catches fish.
 
I used to use poly for spinner wings also.
A few years ago, a buddy of mine gave me some clear antron, and I tried it. Big improvement!
It holds it's shape better than poly, and doesn't get as waterlogged.
And, when it gets wet, it has a sparkly sheen to it that looks a lot like real spinner wings.
I now use antron on all my spinner wings
 
zlon!
 
Thanks for your help on the wings.
 
Just wrap pale blue dun dry fly hackle in the normal fashion. Then clip the bottom so it lays flush on the water. Very easy to tie, and I think it looks better than the synthetics. You can clip the top too, if you want, but I don't. Leaving the hackle on top makes the fly a little easier to see at dusk, and the trout don't seem to mind.
 
troutbert,

I can't remember if it was you that posted that tip a while back, but this is how I've tie most of my spinners now. Easy tie and easy to see!!

JH
 
I do the same thing with the hackle but also add spent wings generally with z-lon sometimes just on one side and i bend the hook

check out this for pic:

http://flyfisherman.com/ftb/kgcripple/

and I'd recommend you get his book

first time i met kelly he was snorkling the big manistee river and studing fish behavoir. he one of those guys that goes to the extreme to understand - i wish I had that kind of time
 
skiltonian,

Cool fly, thanks for sharing! I like the bent hook, but would it effect the hook setting ablity?

JH
 
Wow. I never thought of that, but it looks more like a spinner than most spinner imitations.

I'm gonna try that for trikes this year.
 
flyfishermanj wrote:
skiltonian,

Cool fly, thanks for sharing! I like the bent hook, but would it effect the hook setting ablity?

JH

I never thought so, and the other nice thing is... you don't have to carry specific cripple patterns. Just bend the hook of whatever fly you are fishing, if it isn't producing for you but you think you have the right pattern.
 
never had an issue with missed strikes with the bent hook. i highly recommend galloups book - alot of time on the water went into that book.
 
I've used poly-pro and Antron in the past. I just got through reading "Hatches II" and they show using hackle and trimming off the top and bottom. I'm gonna give that a try. With my serious down time from lack of work I've finnished that book, "Caddisflies", "Nymphs I and II", and "Matching the Hatch".
 
fritz, pm me :)
 
deer hair. stand it up ala comparadun, than wrap dubbing figure-8 style to pull the hair down to the sides. better footprint on water than antron or poly.
 
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