The Black Spinner is a must have dry fly in your fly box.  It is a great fly to use when all the action has stopped after the dun hatches and you see the occasional rises, it is best used from November to March on the Central Highlands lakes.

Material:

1. First wrap 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.

2.  Select three individual good cock hackles or Microfibbett fibres equal in length to 1.5 or 2 times the hook shank. Tie in 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).

3.  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 the Black Spinner 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 silver 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.

6. Select a good quality Black hackle feather from your cape. 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 off and trim the excess hackle feather.  Light head cement.