Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
Fly tyers have long been obsessed – some would say excessively so – with matching the color of artificial flies to corresponding naturals. The concept of precisely imitating insect colors dates to the very beginnings of fly angling. In Walton & Cotton’s timeless masterpiece The Compleat Angler (1676), Piscator instructs Viator on the subtleties of color in fly tying:
Piscator: So, here’s your dubbing now.
Viator: This dubbing is very black.
Piscator: It appears so in the hand: but step to the door and hold it up betwixt your eye and the sun and it will appear a shining red. Let me tell you, never a man in England can discern the true color of a dubbing any way but that.
Look closely at natural insects, and you will discover that many are semi-transparent. Hold a black ant against the light à la Piscator, and it is completely opaque. But hold a red ant similarly and it glimmers and glows “as though lighted by some inner fire” (V. Marinaro in A Modern Dry Fly Code). The inner fire of live insects – especially mayflies – is often discussed but not easily imitated. Insect translucency originates from light transmitted through the body, as opposed to light reflected from the body. Translucency in fly design became especially relevant when the dry fly revolution swept fly angling in the late 1800s. Dry flies drifting atop the surface are viewed by trout from below, against a bright sky. J.W. Dunne brought the importance of matching colors “against the light” to the forefront of fly design in his 1924 book Sunshine and the Dry Fly, where he described methods for imitating insect translucency. The value of translucent floating flies is quite logical, but similar principles apply also to nymphs, many of which are viewed by trout against a bright background.
How can translucency be imitated when the core of artificial flies is a solid piece of steel wire? The most elaborate – and perhaps most successful – method was that of J.W. Dunne. He tied fly bodies with dyed cellulose acetate floss (“Cellulite”, an early synthetic) on hooks whose shanks he had painted with white enamel. When fishing, Dunne coated the Cellulite with a special “Sunshine Oil”, which rendered it translucent. Incident light passed through the colored floss, reflected off the white hook shank, and then passed back through the floss, thus yielding an illusion of translucency. F.M. Halford and G.E.M. Skues had described similar tricks earlier by wrapping a single strand of translucent-when-wet horsehair, silk thread, or drawn silkworm gut over bare reflective hook shanks. When nylon was invented in the mid-20th century, George Grant wrapped bodies of nymphs with clear monofilament, through which underlying materials were highly visible.
G.E.M. Skues refined and popularized what is perhaps the simplest and most widely used method to imitate translucency. He dubbed animal fur sparsely over a base of colored silk thread. The silhouette of fur is soft, and light passing through the airy fur dubbing is brilliantly colored by the underlying thread. Skues’ method is simple and effective, and he chose silks and furs that imitate the inner fire of desired insects. After experimenting with many different natural furs, Skues settled on seal’s fur as being the most sparkling, radiant, and translucent of all.
The Sherry Spinner originated in Britain in the late-1800s. The name refers to its ruddy amber-brown color, like that of sherry wine. The Sherry Spinner was designed to imitate a specific blue-winged olive species (Seratella ignita), but it imitates many other BWO species as well, all of which are shades of rusty brown or olive brown. This Sherry Spinner pattern was that of G.E.M. Skues, the author who coined the term “blue-winged olive” in reference to a mayfly.
Copyright 2025, Rusty Dunn
Sherry Spinner
Natural materials (silk, fur, feather, etc.) often change color when wet. Thus, matching of colors should be done when flies are wet with water and held “against the light” as described by J.W. Dunne
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Hook:
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Dry fly, #14 – #16
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Thread:
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Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, hot orange (No.19)
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Tail:
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Honey dun hackle barb
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Ribbing:
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Fine gold wire
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Body:
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Seal’s fur, the color of sherry wine (a ruddy amber-brown). Mix various colors of dyed seal’s fur and soften with a little hare’s poll. Seal’s fur can be substituted with translucent synthetics (e.g. Antron).
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Hackle:
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Rusty dun rooster
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Sherry Spinner
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Last Updated: May 7, 2025 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
Fly tyers have long been obsessed – some would say excessively so – with matching the color of artificial flies to corresponding naturals. The concept of precisely imitating insect colors dates to the very beginnings of fly angling. In Walton & Cotton’s timeless masterpiece The Compleat Angler (1676), Piscator instructs Viator on the subtleties of color in fly tying:
Piscator: So, here’s your dubbing now.
Viator: This dubbing is very black.
Piscator: It appears so in the hand: but step to the door and hold it up betwixt your eye and the sun and it will appear a shining red. Let me tell you, never a man in England can discern the true color of a dubbing any way but that.
Look closely at natural insects, and you will discover that many are semi-transparent. Hold a black ant against the light à la Piscator, and it is completely opaque. But hold a red ant similarly and it glimmers and glows “as though lighted by some inner fire” (V. Marinaro in A Modern Dry Fly Code). The inner fire of live insects – especially mayflies – is often discussed but not easily imitated. Insect translucency originates from light transmitted through the body, as opposed to light reflected from the body. Translucency in fly design became especially relevant when the dry fly revolution swept fly angling in the late 1800s. Dry flies drifting atop the surface are viewed by trout from below, against a bright sky. J.W. Dunne brought the importance of matching colors “against the light” to the forefront of fly design in his 1924 book Sunshine and the Dry Fly, where he described methods for imitating insect translucency. The value of translucent floating flies is quite logical, but similar principles apply also to nymphs, many of which are viewed by trout against a bright background.
How can translucency be imitated when the core of artificial flies is a solid piece of steel wire? The most elaborate – and perhaps most successful – method was that of J.W. Dunne. He tied fly bodies with dyed cellulose acetate floss (“Cellulite”, an early synthetic) on hooks whose shanks he had painted with white enamel. When fishing, Dunne coated the Cellulite with a special “Sunshine Oil”, which rendered it translucent. Incident light passed through the colored floss, reflected off the white hook shank, and then passed back through the floss, thus yielding an illusion of translucency. F.M. Halford and G.E.M. Skues had described similar tricks earlier by wrapping a single strand of translucent-when-wet horsehair, silk thread, or drawn silkworm gut over bare reflective hook shanks. When nylon was invented in the mid-20th century, George Grant wrapped bodies of nymphs with clear monofilament, through which underlying materials were highly visible.
G.E.M. Skues refined and popularized what is perhaps the simplest and most widely used method to imitate translucency. He dubbed animal fur sparsely over a base of colored silk thread. The silhouette of fur is soft, and light passing through the airy fur dubbing is brilliantly colored by the underlying thread. Skues’ method is simple and effective, and he chose silks and furs that imitate the inner fire of desired insects. After experimenting with many different natural furs, Skues settled on seal’s fur as being the most sparkling, radiant, and translucent of all.
The Sherry Spinner originated in Britain in the late-1800s. The name refers to its ruddy amber-brown color, like that of sherry wine. The Sherry Spinner was designed to imitate a specific blue-winged olive species (Seratella ignita), but it imitates many other BWO species as well, all of which are shades of rusty brown or olive brown. This Sherry Spinner pattern was that of G.E.M. Skues, the author who coined the term “blue-winged olive” in reference to a mayfly.
Copyright 2025, Rusty Dunn
Sherry Spinner
Natural materials (silk, fur, feather, etc.) often change color when wet. Thus, matching of colors should be done when flies are wet with water and held “against the light” as described by J.W. Dunne
Hook:
Dry fly, #14 – #16
Thread:
Pearsall’s Gossamer silk, hot orange (No.19)
Tail:
Honey dun hackle barb
Ribbing:
Fine gold wire
Body:
Seal’s fur, the color of sherry wine (a ruddy amber-brown). Mix various colors of dyed seal’s fur and soften with a little hare’s poll. Seal’s fur can be substituted with translucent synthetics (e.g. Antron).
Hackle:
Rusty dun rooster
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