Ministry of micro fly: Private Ryan (Mayfly spinner pattern)

This fly is my tribute to the allied forces of World War II. Please let me explain.

Spinners on Omaha beach, World War II

Special about the month May is –for us fly tyers- the mayfly. But in The Netherlands, this month is mostly associated with World War II. On May 4 the Dutch remember each year all (allied) people who fought and died during World War II and in wars in general. There are remembrance gatherings all over the country and two minutes of silence is observed at 8pm.

The day after, we celebrate (Liberation Day, May 5^th) our liberation by the Allied forces of the occupation by Nazi Germany and Japan. There are festivals all over the country and there are a lot of war films on tv like “Saving private Ryan”. It was during that film that I was puzzling out Mayfly spinner patterns for a fly fish weekend in the Semois river (Belgium Ardennes). Just as Tom Hanks landed on Omaha beach, I doodled a Mayfly spinner pattern made of a detached squirmy worm body with three pheasant tail fibres and Guinea fowl feather wing. Hence the name for this paratrooper fly “Private Ryan”. This fly must land some educated trout on a river beach I thought. The only issue is that Private Ryan was a man, and this spinner fly imitates a lady. A sort of “boy named Sue” reversed…

Semois twilight

“What fly are you using?”, asked one of the local fly fish Mastodons on the campsite. A bunch of beer drinking experienced fly fishers were probably amused about my rotten casting techniques when I was casting in front of the terrace. Then suddenly the fish showed interest as I changed a fly. It was the first year I tied flies.

Old #14 spider pattern

The fly was a sort of white #14 spider with a Guinea fowl hackle. I was surprised and fascinated. Why would the fish take this fly? It was probably because it looked like a gnome version of a Mayfly spinner. So on my to do list was to design an easy to tie and floatable big spinner pattern (I try to bring as little floatant materials in the river as possible). While missing the wine and campfires, I observed the Semois water surface in the twilight. And discovered the Mayfly spinners. The Private Ryan is much bigger than my #14 spider, but think will do just fine.

Hacking & forging a fly

This fly is inspired by the Deerstalker (Neil Patterson) and great spinner articles from masterminds like Peter Lapsley, Neil Patterson, John Goddard and Malcolm Greenhalgh in the Fly fishing and Fly tying magazine. And not to forget the spinner pattern of Leon Janssen in Wondervliegen 2. Larded with my field observations, I hacked the existing patterns and forged this fly. Trying to use modern materials and keeping the fly as simple as possible and not too plastic.

The tasty ingredients

Hook: This is a detached body fly. So the hook has three functions: 1) hooking a prey, 2) a platform to connect body, thorax and wings and 3) minimize the weight to prevent it from sinking. I choose a shrimp hook size 14 as an ultimate compromise.

Body (Total body lenght: 16-25 mm): I choose the squirmy worm because it floats, it's flexible, it's for this spinner the right diameter and it's easy to connect tails to (as I found out). I use white for the Ephemera Danica spinners and Earthworm brown for the Ephemera Vulgata spinners. Tan could be a good colour for duns. Cut approx 15-20 mm squirmy for the body. This makes - with the wing thorax of 5mm- a fly of total 20mm-25 mm in lenght.

Wing (body size): I was looking for a soft wing, large enough for wings and colours that give contrast. I choose Guinea fowl feathers because thy seems to be highly UV reflective en have dark en white spots. But a Mallard breast feather also gives a great impression of the Mayfly wings. Tying trick: Be sure to select feathers with a thin shaft, so you can hackle them easily.

Thorax: I found out that the underside of the thorax of Danica spinners is white-ish. Hence I use I white-ish dubbing for the thorax area (Fly Rite #12 Cream). For the Vulgata, I use Peacock herl.

Tails (20-45 mm): Long and brownish. Pheasant tail fibres are a fine choice. Tying trick: to make shure the 3 fibres spread and don't clog together:

After inserting in the squirmy, place them in the right angles and place a drop of superglue at the base. And or:
Like curling a ribbon for a present: scratch the fibres with your nails. This makes them curl to the right side.

Detached body: After some failures I found a very easy way to make durable detached bodies with great tails. The detached body made from squirmy worm with 3 tails is hopefully helpful for other fly tyers trying to make easy bodies. The only downside is that it is made of plastic (...) and is more “glue-ing then tying’. I think that the squirmy is also interesting for bodies of bigger dry insect patterns like Daddy long legs.

Connecting all bits and pieces
In this short video I demonstrate how to tie this paratrooper.