I have always liked the swimming action that crankbaits have so I turned a fly into a crankbait!
I tested it at the local pond and it works great with some pretty incredible swimming action.
It’s basically a streamer with a lip made from a plastic soda bottle on a #6 Mustad red long-shank streamer hook.
I’ll post tying instructions if anyone wants them.
To test it I used my little 7’-6" 4 weight but it would be better to use a bigger rod like a 5# or 6# weight 8’ or longer. It casts like a big old bass bug popper.
[This message has been edited by hook-line&sinker (edited 18 June 2006).]
I’ve been carving tiny crank bait replica’s out of Bass Wood, Ever since I seen an article by Jay “Fishy Fullum” in Fly Tyer Magazine a few years back, I’m guessing 2000’ish or there 'bouts.
The lips are from old hook boxes, Vince Mariano (Sp) used to carve such wooden baits for musky fishing in the lakes in the lower quadrant of this state.
Also took it a bit further and have had great action on tiny Rapala replica’s as well, All afixed to single xxlong shanked hooks…!!!
Tedious to make but well worth the effort!!!
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) “Spinner’d Minner Fly”
Neat Crankbait Fly. I’ll bet it twists the line on long retrieves. I tied something like that a while back and caught a nice Halibut on it. I’m sure that one you have tied will catch a lot of fish!
It just goes to show that there really aren’t any truely new ideas… I thought I had invented something new but as usual somebody beat me to it! Oh well I’ll just tie several up and really put them to the ultimate test… that is catching fish!
I remember John Betts tying nymphs and streamers with plastic lips 20 or more years ago when he was solidly into synthetics. Some booths have been selling zip lock packages of the ‘lip’ at shows for a few years now. Peti-Jean (spl?) I think. It is great how these things resurface, completely new to different generations of anglers.
I’d still be proud of thinking it up for yourself, maybe you weren’t the first to do it but you did it on your own and that counts for something in my book.
