Special Project: Fly fishers spinner

Spinner fishing was my first love...till I got infected with the fly fishing religion. Although not as effective as a few 1,7 inch shads, I occasionally cast a few spinners to perch in summer time. Making spinners is almost as much fun as tying flies.

Both worlds come together in this spinner. It's a special project in this fly fishing blog.
The hook is for tying salmon flies, the bead is for nymphs & woolly buggers and the cone head is also a salmon fly item. They make lovely spinner parts. In this case a 2,7 grams spinner. My innovations in all my modern spinner designs:

• an incorporated swivel in the eye;
• a fast lock snap instead of a (nail ruining) ring;
• I hate treble hooks and normally use single hooks with a off set point. This double salmon hook is a beautiful compromise (barbs have to be crushed).
• There is no empirical evidence that a red tag (or any tag) on a spinner hook catches more fish. Keep fluffy stuff on the hook limited because is causes air resistance while casting and can restrict your casting distance.
• My first blade choice is a Colorado blade size 2 or 3. These really move the water. But Indiana blades like these are good too.
• Like the effective Mepps Black Fury: I almost always colour the back side of the blade black (not shown here). I think that the black back is the secret of this spinner.
• And of course my line is a Stroft GTM 0,16 mm (my standard leader brand).

With these ingredients you have a perfect spinner for perch and trout!
To tie a weedless hook, have a look at my older fly tie video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4blUDS1wZ4

Just add tippet and water: enjoy!

Hot tub perch!

Some Dutch lowland streams turn into real hot tubs this month (may). That's because of the explosive hatches of mayflies & caenis. Rudd, dace and perch act over here as trout and feed on emergers & shucks.
 
I seduced this perch (and some rudd) with this lead head style mayfly nymph. It is made on a scud hook with a chenille body, CDC, bead & wonder wing. No plant snags with this fly, just fish! I love the true "lead head" design because it keeps the nymph (more) horizontal like a natural.

The only trouble with extending bodies is that you don't hook the quick-thinking and tail nibbling fish! But bigger ones usually do a full contact hook up.

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