How to Tie a Rusty Spinner Hackle Stacker

A couple weeks ago, Cheech from Fly Fish Food showed us how to tie a Purple Haze version of Bob Quigley’s Hackle Stacker, which imitates a crippled mayfly. In this great video, Cheech returns to that tying process, but this time, he’s using it to tie a Rusty Spinner. The result is a fly that can imitate both a spinner and a cripple, making it versatile on the water. Here’s how Cheech describes his process:

In the past few years, I have been able to share the water with some very good anglers whom I respect a lot. When I get the opportunity to fish with these guys, I like to try to observe how they fish, how they set up their gear, and most of all what flies they have confidence in. Chris Walker and Wayne Peterson from Rio Products are these guys, and techie fishing is their game. On most of our outings, I’d notice that a good old Rusty Spinner seemed to be the fly that no fish could resist, so I decided to make it more complicated. (SHOCKER!) I have wanted to play with a spinner wing on a hackle stacker for quite a while, and this was a good opportunity to do it. This fly can be modified to multiple sizes and hatches if you have enough patience.

Rusty Spinner Hackle Stacker
Hook: Standard dry-fly hook (here a TMC 100), sizes 12-18.
Thread: Rusty brown, 8/0 or 70-denier.
Tails: Medium dun Mayfly Tails.
Tail splitter: Tying thread.
Body: Rusty brown turkey biots.
Adhesive #1: Superglue.
Hackle base: Brown Flex-Floss.
Hackle: Brown hackle.
Thorax #1: Rusty spinner Tactical Dry Fly Dub.
Wing: Light dun Ultra Dry Yarn.
Thorax #2: Rusty spinner Tactical Dry Fly Dub.