Jetson's Black Spinner             

Hook:  Tiemco TMC 100 # 10 - 12

Body:  Black Thread to Match Natural 8/0

Rib: Silver Wire

Hackle: Black

1/ First off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from near the front of the hook and extending to the point where you are going to tie in your first part of the fly, the tail. This point should be roughly level with the barb on the hook. Once this is completed and you have a good bed of thread proceed to step two.
2/ Select three individual Microfibbett fibres  equal in length to 1.5 or 2 times the hook shank. Tie in as shown to form a tail and remove the excess tail filament stubs. Microfibbetts are great for this as they are stiff right through unlike filaments from a hackle. Also they can be splayed or bent into shape after tying. Go to next step.
3/  Next take a piece of silver wire and secure it to the hook at the rear of the fly. This wire should be tied in so that it protrudes out from the rear of the fly and is out of the way of your working space for constructing the rest of the fly. Once this is done trim the excess wire and cover with a few well placed turns of thread.
4/ The body of this fly is to be constructed with thread. We don't want the fly to be much thicker than the hook itself. Wind forward to a point about 1/3 of the hook shanks length behind the hook eye. There you have your thread body. An even body is better than a tapered one in this instance so be aware of this as you make it.
5/ Now that you have made the thin body of the fly take the copper wire rib and start to wind forward. Use between 4 and 7 even wraps to reach the point where the thread is. This rib will be a very prominent feature of the fly. When this is done secure it with the thread and remove any excess you may have. Then move onto step 6.
6/ We are nearly finished. Select a good quality hackle feather from your cape/saddle. A dyed or natural black is ideal. Tie it angled backwards and with the shiny side facing forward. This will assist in getting the hackle to stand up correctly right from the very first turn. Once this is tied in trim the excess feather stem and wind the thread forward to the eye of the hook.
7/ Take your hackle feather and wind forward with each successive turn in front of the previous one. In this case you may even want to use only several turns like I do as these spinners are extremely delicate. Tie different versions with some using only a couple of turns of hackle for fishing in slower water and some with a few more for faster water. Tie off and trim the excess hackle feather. Add two half hitches.
8/ The fly is completed as far as the tying goes. Have a look at it from above you will notice the body is almost even in diameter. Also notice the lightly tied hackle, perfect for highlighting the dainty insect when on the wing. Lastly use your fingers to bend the Microfibbett tails into place which not only makes it look like the natural but helps to balance it on the water.

The Pattern

Peter Leuver brings this pattern to prominence in his brilliant book 'Fur and Feather'. At least as far as mainlanders go as Tasmanians have been using this fly for decades. It accurately imitates the black spinners of the Central Highlands as well as those found on the Monaro in New South Wales and also the flat water spring creeks of Victoria. This is a big pattern and should be tied on #10 hooks. The combination of long tail filaments, thin abdomen, ribbed body and light hackle make it one of the best spinner patterns available. 

On top of this it is very simple to tie taking only a couple of minutes a fly when you really get going. Great on calm Spring mornings on the rivers and from November to March on the Central Highland Stillwaters they being especially prominent on the along the calm strip of water in the lee of the bank. Use as a single dry fly and cast it just ahead of the last disturbance made by the trout or to a cruising fish. Best 'hatches' occur on muggy, cloudy days and locations worthy of special note are St Clair Lagoon and the island in the actual lake adjacent to the lagoon, the Mac Laughlin River near Nimmitabel and the Rubicon River near Thornton.

Good fishing!

Antony, David and Geoff.