Proof of Concept Bass fly

I thought this up in the wee hours of the morning and thought I'd give it a try. It's a bit crude and needs work, but it looks like it will work well in adding a bit of movement and flash to some streamers I'm tying. Your thoughts...


Jim Smith
Attachment 16034

I took the prototype spinner minnow out to see how it casts and looks in the water. It actually casts just fine with my 7wt. I just opened my loops a bit like when you cast any larger fly. In fact, it casts much easier than a weighted Clouser. It looks amazing in the water. The blade flashes like crazy on the retrieve and slow retrieves it gives a nice steady wobbling flash. It doesn't twist the line at all and I suspect that it would make an outstanding pattern for slow trolling. It also passed inspection with the bass. I caught two small LM bass and lost a very nice one. All-in-all, this one is an absolute keeper and I will be tying several of them in different color patterns.

Jim Smith

jim, looks pretty good, but the spinner tail may rotate while casting and create a little more drag on your cast. i tied up some shrimp imitations about 25 years ago with curl tails . they looked good coming thru the water, but the curl tail flipping in the wind during casting made them almost impossible to cast.

hope it works for you and let me know how they cast

good luck, john52948

Not sure how that spinner tail will affect casting, but once you get that puppy in the water, you'd better have a good grip on your rod, because something is gonna slam that fly. Nicely done.

Awesome ...... appears you do some very good thinking early in the morning. I also appreciate the feedback you got from fishing this fly. Congratulations !!

Greg, Thanks for thekind words. I took it out for a test run yesterday evening. It casts fine on my 9 foot 7wt Sag RPL which is a medium action rod. I opened my loops a bit and made sure to give it time to load the rod on the back cast so it worked well. It has terrific action in the water. With fast 1 foot retrieves the spinner blade makes a lot of movement and gives it lots of flash. With slower retrieves, the blade has a gentle motion adding movement and flash. I suspect that it would also be very effective in moving water with smallmouth bass and brown trout. I fished for a little over an hour and hooked three bass. One very nice one came unbuttoned when I tried to keep him from getting into the dock pilings. I landed the other two small nass. The blade seems to act like a keel and keeps the fly in the upright position. When I paused between strips, it ank slowly at a 45 degree nose-down attitude just like a dying baitfish. I really think that this is a keeper and will become a great pattern for LM fishing here in Florida.Attachment 16036