Fishing & Tying The Rusty Spinner
We are on the Bighorn River in Montana this week and one of our go-to flies is a size 16 rusty spinner. This is a 
pattern that we have many of in our fly boxes from home in Pennsylvania, and in our western boxes. When you think about it, rusty spinners should have a prominent place in every fly box. This spinner, tied in various sizes and shades represents numerous mayflies found on rivers and streams, both east and west, in this country and in others.
The mayflies that come first to mind that have a rusty-like spinner for the final stage of life are Quill Gordon, Hendrickson, March Brown, Blue Winged Olive, Slate Drake, PMD, and Brown Drake. There is some variation in the size and shade of “rusty” in each of these mayflies but they all fall into the general grouping of rusty, red-brown or mahogany spinners.
Some days are hot and breezy and the hopper fishing can be lots of fun, but there are calm warm days this week and that brings out the PMDs (Pale Morning Duns) and PMD spinners. Today we caught fish on three different shades of rusty and three different hook sizes. Our guide, Clint Krumm, agreed that it is a “go-to” fly for him on the river. Here it represents the pseudocloeon (pseudos), the PMD, and mahogany mayflies. Even when the flies are not hatching and spinners are not on the water, the fish are used to seeing the flies and will often take a spinner when it is offered.
The weather today was overcast because of forest fire smoke in the west and glare on the water was bad making the slender spinner profile hard to find. Our solution was to tie on a larger size 14 poly wing spinner with a size 16 hen wing spinner as a dropper. The light reflected off the poly wing making it easy to locate and sometimes the fish would take the larger spinner and other times the smaller. When the smaller spinner was chosen, the larger fly acted as a strike indicator, but whenever I saw a fish rise close to the larger spinner I set the hook and most of the time it resulted in a hook-up. We often use the same technique when fishing small hard-to-see flies at home – a bigger fly that can be easily seen and a small fly as a dropper. 
Our favorite rods are 9 foot, 5-weights for dries and 6-weight for nymph fishing. Leaders are about 9 feet long and usually 5X leaders. We have Sage Sonics with us and these rods have been lots of fun to fish, very responsive and accurate, and in a $550 price range, they are one of the best values in a mid priced multi-purpose fly rod.
In this article for Fly Fisherman, renowned author, fly tier and angler, Renee Harrop, talks about the rusty spinner imitating at least 13 mayfly hatches. Renee is a legend on western rivers like the Henry's Fork and no one knows bugs and the river better. It's a fascinating read.
While Lunn's Particular (referenced in the link above) may be a proven fly, we often use a simple poly fluff spinner tied with a little red brown dubbing and a micro-fibett tail. Tim Flagler ties a variation of this simple pattern in his video. If you Google the rusty spinner you'll find many variations. It's a pattern that can be simply tied.....or not. Either way it's a very effective fly, easily tied, easily fished, and is almost always the right choice. You can find rusty and red brown spinners, micro-fibetts and white or light dun poly fluff wing material in our online store.
We will have a Bighorn Report next week with photos from the two weeks. We have had perfect weather, good water, and good fishing. We love the Bighorn River Lodge! Here are a few shots until next week.
Last chance to jump on the plane and enjoy a week of beautiful fall fishing in the Pyrenees. We have a couple rooms available. Borders are open and visitors are arriving. Come join us.
I discovered Hemingway's book on the 
This is a book for those long quiet winter nights....which are coming quickly. 
That kind of fishing is unheard of around here in most Augusts! And it looks like it’s going to continue right through fall. For the next month, (August 26-September 26), we’re celebrating with $100 off our guiding fee for one or two anglers. It’s a great deal, includes guiding on private water, lunch, and any equipment that you might need. 
hopper dry fly with a dropper nymph. One fly floats and one sinks. Leave the 6X that you used a week ago on the #18 sulphur spinners in your pocket. Tie that hopper on a 4X leader so the cast turns over easily and depending on the depth of the water, add 14-24 inches of 4X tippet with a simple clinch knot to the bend of the hopper remembering that the longer the dropper tippet, the slower your cast should be to keep everything out of trouble.
In the early mornings we are see fish rising to left over spinners from the night before but most of the action is on nymphs such as the pheasant tail (my favorite is a size 18 bead head), mop flies, ug bugs or yellow brown stoneflies, squirmy wormies, zebra midges and Perdigon nymphs to name a few that seem to be catching the most trout.
The word is that we will be okay on the Bighorn because it's a tail water fishery. The water is coming out cold, clear, and low – which is good for the 'Horn at this time of year.
We have a couple rooms available on our E. Pyrenees trip to Spain, Sept. 14-22. This is a trip for anglers and non-anglers with lots of good fishing and good sightseeing for non fishing companions. From tail waters to high mountain streams, fall is a beautiful time of year to be in Spain. Excellent food, wine, and fishing. 
We fly in and out of Barcelona and it's easy to extend your trip to see the city or to visit other parts of Spain. Please email us to request a brochure or more information.
You may have read in an earlier blog that I decided this spring to get better at euro nymph fishing. Our guides were all doing it, exchanging stories, and it was clear that they liked it. I wanted to be part of that new energy, to take part in the conversations, be part of the group, so I got Tom & Jim, two of our guides, to help set up an outfit. It included the 
getting better at reading the 2-tone leader and have to say that I like the indicator tippet. The other thing that I really like though is the tippet ring and we are now using them on all of our rods. It makes managing the tippet so much easier and protects the leader. We're using tippet rings in all of our classes and I think that it helps a new angler in understanding tippet and leaders.
A friend and client sent us the following article. It seems that the west is not only dealing with drought and wild fires, but with a grasshopper invasion as well. It's hard to believe that there can be this many hoppers and it doesn't sound like a good thing, but we have to hope that we find them in mass on the Bighorn when we get there in a few weeks. It could be some amazing fishing!
One room for one or two persons has just become available with us at Turneffe Flats Lodge, Belize, October 16-23, 2021. Bonefish, permit, snook, tarpon, and diving. Great destination for a non-fishing partner. Check out the itinerary and then grab it before it's gone! 
We still have a pretty good inventory of Copper Johns on sale. It's a great time to stock up! Here's the repeat from a couple weeks ago:
to summer, warm air and warmer water temperatures – which are now upon us. At this time of year, it's important to know what's happening to the immediate environment of the fish that we're going after.
If you haven't looked around the Keep Fish Wet website, please do so. It's not a finger pointing, you're doing it wrong site. It's there to help us better understand fish and to help us be better stewards of the sport we fight so hard to protect and preserve. It's got good, solid, interesting information for us. Start with taking a look at this short article and go from there.
