Fly Tying and Inspiration

The Transparent Jenny Spinner

Neil Patterson writes in FF&FT (April 23) about the transparent Iron Blue Spinner, “The Transparent Jenny Spinner,” which he does so brilliantly, naturally with his usual humorous distance. The name Jenny Spinner is a somewhat mysterious fly-fishing name for the Iron Blue’s male spinner, and it is in itself a bit mysterious and Halford-like to tie the males, especially when it comes to spinners, where predominantly the egg-laying females land on the water…

Fly Tying and Inspiration

The Transparent Jenny Spinner

Neil Patterson writes in FF&FT (April 23) about the transparent Iron Blue Spinner, “The Transparent Jenny Spinner,” which he does so brilliantly, naturally with his usual humorous distance. The name Jenny Spinner is a somewhat mysterious fly-fishing name for the Iron Blue’s male spinner, and it is in itself a bit mysterious and Halford-like to tie the males, especially when it comes to spinners, where predominantly the egg-laying females land on the water.

Neil Patterson got the fly from J.C. Mottram’s wonderful book “Flyfishing, some new arts and mysteries,” which can truly be said to be ahead of its time (1921). I have the book myself, and interestingly enough, you find the fly “The Transparent Jenny Spinner” precisely in the chapter titled “Flies of the future.” The reasons for why I shouldn’t tie this fly are numerous. However, now I have been inspired and have created a 2-minute overview sketch where I have allowed myself to replace the original red-brownish floss silk on the thorax and abdomen with various dubbing, as seen in my drawing.

What has driven me to produce a good handful of these flies, I find a bit difficult to explain with my logic intact, but just maybe I have some urge to have a different and sparsely tied spinner to bring to the stream. I go, as I often do, with my intuition, and one thing I can say with certainty is, “It doesn’t look like the other flies in my fishing vest” 😁

Materials:
Hook: Dry fly hook with fine wire size 16 or 18
Thread: Semperfli Nano Silk 24/0 white and black
Tails: Coq de Leon
Abdomen: Kapok dubbing, sulphur color, Semperfli mixed with rusty brown haredubbing, and bare hook shank.
Thorax: Black CDC dubbing
Spent wings: Light dun or white hackle, trimmed on the top and underside.

See more pictures of The Transparent Jenny Spinner below.

Fly tying by Michael Olesen

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