Spinner Flies For Panfishing!

[tidewaterfly 0]

The Striped Bass season has ended here in MD, so some folks are turning their attention to various panfish species. I spent some time today tying up some flies to be used on perch & Crappies in our tidal rivers & in some of the state owned ponds.

 

I had recently purchased some of these small inline spinners, something that works well with either a fly rod or ultra light spinning gear.

 

 

I had these Aberdeen hooks, which are quite inexpensive, but good hooks for panfish. These are South Bend brand, likely made in Korea, but surprisingly good quality & sharp. This assortment ranges in size from about a 10 up to 1/0. I only used the sizes that looked to be #4's. A good size for panfish and one I use frequently. Unfortunately the pack is not marked for the sizes.

 

 

Here's the end result in some favorite color combinations.

 

[kelkay 0]

Great looking spinner flies. They will work well for you!

 

 

 

The Striped Bass season has ended here in MD, so some folks are turning their attention to various panfish species. I spent some time today tying up some flies to be used on perch & Crappies in our tidal rivers & in some of the state owned ponds.

 

I had recently purchased some of these small inline spinners, something that works well with either a fly rod or ultra light spinning gear.

 

 

I had these Aberdeen hooks, which are quite inexpensive, but good hooks for panfish. These are South Bend brand, likely made in Korea, but surprisingly good quality & sharp. This assortment ranges in size from about a 10 up to 1/0. I only used the sizes that looked to be #4's. A good size for panfish and one I use frequently. Unfortunately the pack is not marked for the sizes.

 

 

Here's the end result in some favorite color combinations.

 

[heavynets 0]

The spinner'd minner is a good one too.

http://www.flyangler.../053005fotw.php

[coinman66 0]

Those look awesome. Nothin wrong with thinkin outside the box. Let us know how they do.

[Phish 0]

I have always seen some flies with blades but never tried them. At that time i didnt think it was proper with fly fishing. Now i think it is fine to play around with different things.

These i made a few years ago. I am now tweaking them with single hooks and lighter wire.

[Phish 0]

Here's a close up view before changes.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Tide- you would probably enjoy making your own little spinners too. I make all my own with just a few small pliers, a round-jaw plier being most important. With that, you can control the radius of all the bends exactly as you want. I use small-ish stainless steel leader wire for all my wire work.

 

One thing I have discovered which may be important to you with spinner flies- if you tie in a lead dumbell eye toward the head of the fly, it will resist the tendency of the spinner to twist the hell out of your leader, and also help keep it down just a little bit, as the spinner blades somehow seem to make the lure rise to the surface quickly.

 

These can be absolute killers on crappie.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Thanks for the comments! I've played with adding spinners to flies in the past. Still have a couple of packs of propellor blade types I haven't used.

 

Joel, I've made my own spinners too in the past, I have the tools & plenty of wire, just don't have as much time to do it. I found those ready made on Ebay, so figured I could spend a little time tying & add them. I think the next ones will have small cone heads to add a little weight. I have a couple of packs of small tungsten cones that I really have not had a use for until now.

 

These can be absolute killers on crappie.

 

I would be happy with some decent size Crappies, or White Perch or Yellow Perch!

 

Phish, those are really cool! Do they float?

[perchjerker 0]

Here are a couple of flies that I have tried spinner blades and propellors on, with reasonable success. The one with the 'aft' spinner blade is a highly recommended pattern for Florida peacock bass, and the Clouser with the 'nose' propellor is my own idea, based on a popular pattern in south central Wyoming, the name for which I do not recall. It was nothing more than a wooly worm or a wooly bugger with a propellor on the nose, and was said to be "deadly" on trout.

[Peterjay 0]

Great looking stuff Jim. The perch & crappies'll eat those babies like candy.

[tidewaterfly 0]

Peter, thanks for the comment! I think so too!

 

Perch, as I recall, there are some flies in Tom Nixon's book that have spinner blades in various positions. That Clouser looks killer! I've added propellers to the front of Woolly Worms & Buggers, but hadn't thought of trying it with a Clouser.

[flytire 0]

pistol petes

 

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

Pistol petes work great for Crappie and big bluegills

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Those look great Tide; as do the others posting examples.

 

Kirk

[Phish 0]

Tide, the revamped one do a better job of floating then the one in the picture although these made a lot commotion just underneath which I kind of liked anyways. They get hammered by fish for sure.

 

Those Pistol Pete looks cool!

 

As for line twist I used 3x tippet and keep the leader short to 6' and kept it down but not all so it something of a trade off.