Friday, February 13, 2009

Inline spinners for fly casting

This is my variation of the Tom Nixon spinner fly: http://laflyfish.com/flies/tom-nixon-spinner.php
I use a long shank #2 - #6 hook. I use about a foot of wire to make it easy to work with. Thread the wire through the hook eye, then wrap the hook 4 or 5 times. Bend a right angle in the wire close to the hook, then hold the wire and twist several times until the wire breaks cleanly at the hook. Straighten the wire so that it is aligned with the hook shank and then put the beads, and the clevis and blade. Then form the eye, it's easiest to do with a small pair of round jawed slip ring pliers. Mine came in a tool kit for bead chain making that Michael's sells for about $7. It comes in a box that is perfect for storing parts. Once you have the eye formed, wrap and break the wire as done on the hook.
A great source for the parts is: http://lurepartsonline.com
I use marabou for the tail and chenille or estaz for the body on freshwater spinners with a #6 hook. On the saltwater version, I use buck tail for the tail and mylar for the body, then coat the body with Hard As Nails clear nail polish.
BTW I learned all this at the monthly fly tying session with the Red Stick Fly Fishers club. Don Richardson demoed it, and even brought a bunch of the Michael's kits and passed them on at cost.


4 comments:

arizona carpet cleaners said...
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Pittkrew news said...

cool?? What size baldes do you use? and what type of wire?

Thanks
Brannon

Butch Ammons said...

The smaller better on the blades and the wire. I really don't remember exactly what I got, I got enough for about 100 spinners, so I don't think I will be reordering any time soon..

Unknown said...

Butch, I'm trying to get "tooled-up" for making some of these spinner flies. Have my lurepartsonline.com catalog in-hand. Will take you at your word that the smaller the better to keep the weight of the fly to a mininumm. They have .015" wire. Guess I'll get that and the smallest beads, clevis, blades. Thinking a #8 or #10 hook.

I noticed in your pictures that you like the hammered finish spinners and what looks like the Colorado blade.

Will be fishing Red and Black Creeks in South Mississippi for sunfish, bream and whatever else will bite.