Caenid Spinner                    

Hook:  Standard Dry Fly Hook Tiemco TMC 100 # 18 - 22

Thread: Tan 8/0 Uni Thread

Wing: Grey/White Hi-Vis

Tail:    Light coloured Microfibbetts or Hackle Fibres

Body: Tan Thread

Hackle:  Light Dun 

Thorax: Black Ultra Fine Dubbing.

1/ Tie in your thread just behind the hook eye. Wind back  towards the rear of the fly stopping directly above the hook point. This is the point at which you will tie in your Micro-Fibbbett tail. This is the same as most of the flies we have featured whereby a thread base is wrapped on the hook before starting he fly at the rear and winding each successive part as we move forward.
2/ Select a small bunch of Microfibbetts equal to and up to 1.5 times the length of the hook shank. Tie in as shown to form a tail and remove the excess tail filament stubs. This tail can be spread eagled to help it better sit on the film of the water as the Microfibbetts can be bent and will stay in the position you select without retracting to their original straight configuration. Go to Step 3.
3/  Use your thread to wind a slightly tapering body stopping approximately one third of the hook shank length behind the eye as shown. Then take a small tuft of Hi-Vis and tie in just forward of where this tapered thread body ends. Using the figure eight tie in method to get a nice wing that sits flat/level (see step 5 photo) with the hook shank just like the spent naturals. Trim the Hi Vis to more correctly imitate the wing.
4/ Now take one smallish hackle and tie in with the shiny side of the feather facing forward. In a later step we will be winding this to the hook eye over the top of the dubbed thorax. Trim the excess feather subs and lay a couple of tight wraps just for extra strength. This fly is ideally tied with the very smallest hackles on your cape. It doesn't matter if they aren't the perfect size for the hook.
5/ Find you Ultra Fine dry fly dubbing and apply a small amount to the thread. You really need a fine dubbing to get the correct appearance with such small patterns and many of the dubbing Companies make them. In this case we have used K-Dub which is not only ultra fine but also floats very well. Also you can see in the photo the wing that sits flat as described in step 3..
6/ Start winding this rope of dubbing you have constructed forward towards the hook eye. This doesn't need to be tapered. This is a very small fly and going from a thin slightly tapered abdomen to the more bulky thorax is more than enough detail for the fish. When you reach the hook eye, remove the excess dubbing and add a half hitch to make sure it as all secure.
7/ Take your hackle feather and wind forward over and through your dubbed body. Take between 3-4 turns to reach the hook eye but floatation is achieved through several aspects of the fly so don't worry about it not being dense enough. A combination of the hackle, wing and tail is what keeps this fly floating. Wind forward to the hook eye and tie in with your thread. Add a couple of half hitches and trim the excess.
8/ Now use your scissors to remove the underside portion of this hackle you just tied in. Cut it as flat to the body as you can. This will make the fly sit correctly and also aid in it's floating. You can see from the photo on the right that this fly sits totally flush in the film. Some may like to add a whip finish to complete the fly but the two half hitches you did in the previous step are more than enough.
9/ This is just a final view of the completed fly not really another step. Note the wings that are roughly equal in length to the hook shank and the slightly splayed tail filaments. Also the prominent thorax which is a very important aspect of this fly.

The Pattern

We have featured this pattern as Fly of the Week as there are a lot of these particular Mayfly hatching on both the Goulburn and our lakes as I write this (early Nov 2000) and it is one that is not often recognised on the mainland as being important. Tasmanian's will be aware of it's effectiveness and on many occasions at first light the angler who is without one will go home fishless. The colouration of our Caenid is actually exactly the same as the one that Bruce Gibson ties (see 

Just recently on the Goulburn we had the biggest hatch of these 'bugs' that we have ever seen. Literally hundreds came down by the minute, dotting the waters surface and the fish responded as you would hope, with much enthusiasm. This hatch went for 3 hours persisting through the rain showers that were passing through and this pattern took many fish. It has also caught plenty of fish rising early in the mornings on our lakes although picking which one are taking the midge and which the Caenid is an exercise in futility.

Also this is an excellent pattern for early morning fishing on Goulburn River Backwaters. These bugs are especially active at first and sometimes last light and they will collect at these times in any slack water off the main flow. It is often the case that fish will be found gently sipping them at first light and this is the fly of choice when such a riser is encountered.

Good fishing!

Antony, David and Geoff.