SPENT SPINNER BLACK WIDOW
The Spent Spinner Black Widow is easy to spot on the river because of the puffy rabbit wings. The black body creates a nice contrast for the low light conditions, making it easy to spot for the trout as well.
A spent spinner is a spent spinner. Mostly I tie mine with tied up hackle. On this one I have used rabbit foot from Jon Strand’s and high quality Arctic Rabbit line. Jon was also the guy suggesting using rabbit foot as wing material to increase visibility in low light conditions.
It is a straight forward tie. Start with the wing – about a shank length of rabbit hair. Tie it in and split the bundle in two equal parts – separate it with the figure eight turn. Next are the tails. You can use any tailing material, but I love using natural badger. Makes the fly come alive.
The body of the fly is simply turkey biot, and the thorax is a mix of burnt orange (10%) and black (90%) hare
Hook: Hends BL 454 sizes 12-16
Thread: Veevus 12/0 Black
Wing: Rabbit foot or Hares foot
Tail: Natural Badger
Body: Black Turkey Biot
Thorax: Mix Black and Burnt orange hare dubbing (90/10)
Materials are listed in order of tying. Pick out fibers from thorax to suggest legs.
Read more about the Hends BL 454 here
Apply floatant and dead drift. Fish with a reasonably long leader.
