Spinner fly?

A very oldfashioned idea - and I mean a century old.
Its a metal wire spinner, blade and hackled flies.
The spinner is just an inline spring clip type, known sometimes as an, "Idaho Spinner."
These were once quite popular, before modern spinning gear took hold - pre-1945ish.
I made it from piano wire and the usual fly stuff.
It's to be cast with a fly rod and stripped and jerked on the retrieve

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Well, I learn something new everyday.
I had to look up "Idaho Spinner." and found this

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Do you still toss these with the fly rod?

Yes, traditionally they are fly rod lures, developed long before anything else existed.
You attach any fly you like, normally a winged wet, or palmered style.

They can be fished with spinning gear, too, by adding weight in front - just enough to get a fair cast. Slow and glitter-glitter is the main idea on the retrieve.

Joe's Spinners (or something like that), is selling the whole rig: spinner and fly, with a stinger hook added to the fly.

I've found some really old writings that add yet another wrinkle, but Im keeping it a secret.

You need to post a picture of this thing I saw it on FB its cool I think I have seen them before. Never new thought that they were meant for fly fishing rods crazy.

I tried a pic, but it wouldn't upload to FTFF.
I don't use a hosting site because it's pointless. Im so far in the country, my data signals are crap. Photo loads just stall...if they ever start.

Ha Ha Ha sorry to hear that I will see if I can find it and load it for you.

Here you go.

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jeffcpr wrote:Here you go.

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There you go - thank you.

This was the first of these I made. What I did was add TWO flies -

1. Attached to the wire spinner itself, the one at left (front) in the pic.
2. A wound hackles fly, on the attached hook.

The idea is to represent a bulk of things. The flash of the blade attracts with noise and flash.
The trailing hook represents a small fish and the forward "fly" represents an insect (aquatic or terrestrial) being pursued by the "spinner fish" at the rear.

Next will be to refine the thing, using willow leaf blades and just a small treble at the rear.
Other variations exist, as well.

Thanks for posting the pic - much appreciated.

jeffcpr wrote:Here you go.

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There you go - thank you.

This was the first of these I made. What I did was add TWO flies -

1. Attached to the wire spinner itself, the one at left (front) in the pic.
2. A wound hackles fly, on the attached  hook.

The idea is to represent a bulk of things. The blade attracts with noise and flash.
The trailing hook/fly represents a small fish and the forward "fly" an insect (aquatic or terrestrial) being pursued by the "spinner fish" at the rear.

A point probably worth mentioning is this: The spinner fly is small.
The Colorado blade is a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], the hook a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The OAL is only 2.25" and the weight is negligible, 1.02 gr.

Next will be to refine the thing, using willow leaf blades and just a small treble at the rear.
Other variations exist, as well.

Thanks for posting the pic - much appreciated.