I’m interested in tying a topwater minnow fly with a big two bladed prop spinner. the fly should float at rest then act like a Devils Horse when retrieved. I’m thinking about some kind of a modified Deceiver. Anybody have any ideas?
Greg
Greg,
This is a tough one.
The body has to be bouyant enough to float, and have enough mass so that the revolving blades don’t cause it to twist.
Deer hair or foam are options for the body. I’d think you’d want to tie it on either one of those aluminum tubes, ‘tube fly’ style, or on a piee of stainless steel wire. This will give you a bearing surface for the props. A VERY long shank hook would work as well, but might be harder to get the props in place.
Twisting on the cast will be a concern. A heavy tippet will help.
In any case, this thing will be a bear to cast, depending, of course, on how big you really want it to be.
The Devil’s Horse is an outstanding topwater bait. I wish you luck in trying to imitate it.
Let us know how it goes.
Good luck!
Buddy
Hey Greg,
You might want to check this one out for ideas.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytyin … 5fotw.html
Swap a two bladed prop for the spinner and a bit of
foam should do the trick. Warm regards, Jim
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/022100fotw.html:5df6a][Pete’s Prop Fly[/url:5df6a]
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/053005fotw.html:5df6a]Spinner’d Minners[/url:5df6a]
Those are the only two propeller fly patterns on FAOL, that I am aware of (been digging around,down in the “Archives” since 1999. ~Parnelli
try and track down a fly called the coffee grinder (heddon torpedo imitation for fly rod), then modify that to a devils horse styling.
We just did up a couple tube flies.
Glue some foam packing material to the tube and roll it up and glue the edge so’s it is cylinderical.
Insert this into some pearl flashabou tubing of the desired size and tie down the ends. Add sticky-on eyes and epoxy.
This floats danged well, looks and acts sorta like a zara spook.
Prop blades should be easy to add to the ends…
…lee s.
Can do a pic later if’n ya want. 
Twist won’t be an issue if you use propellers with opposite rotation. Have one go clockwise and one counterclockwise, and there’ll be no problem. The soft packing foam with epoxy shell might work well. I might also think about using balsa with this one.
How about a bomber tied on a long shank streamer hook with a prop on the back and a prop on the front. The deer hair body could be trimmed in a long, slender shape and the hackle could help give it bulk and floatation. The props would work just like a devil’s horse. The only question would be whether the single streamer hook would hook fish effectively. Long streamer hooks tend to have a small gap between the point and the shaft.
Just bend the pitch of the rear blade the opposite of the front blade.
Edit:
Oops, sorry! Guess I should have read ALL the posts before I put my 2? in. :?
The devil’s horse is a great plug. I have tried a few different flies that use the props like the horse out of balsa, foam, and anything else that floats that really weren’t effective and were a bear to cast. One day my buddy had the horse on and would jerk it hard like a popper then let it rest and bang, a nice smallmouth. It was the only way anyone had caught fish up to that point after fishing all day. I put on a big clipped deerhair diver and started retieving it the same way with a hard three foot strip that would put the bug a couple inches under the surface then a pause to let the bug rise back to the surface. The bug would leave a similar wake like the horse would, bringing down air bubbles into the water. I was matching him fish for fish at that point.
Don’t just get focused on having to use props to imitate the horse exactly. A fly that has the same presentation will work just as well.
John, where can I get some of those constant-speed propellers I keep hearing about?
On my way to work this morning I was thinking about what you are trying to tie and have come up with something that might work. They sell the foam floats/bobbers in Wal-Marts that have the same body shape as the Devil Horse. Some are all red, some white and some with one half white and the other half orange. They come in several different sizes. If you purchase the smaller size and glue a plastic bead on the front and one on the back, run a wire through the bead hole in the front and out the bead hole at the rear, slide propellers on the wire at the front and rear, add another bead and then at the rear you could just twist the wire sticking out past the rear bead into a small circle or something to keep the bead and propeller from coming off and twist another circle in the wire at the front for a place to tie your tippet to it would be complete except for painting the body the color you want.
Just a thought.
Guys,
Trust me, twist will be an issue with ANY fly rod lure that has props on it, even if they are built to rotate in opposite directions.
In a ‘perfect’ world, the opposite turning propellers should counteract each other. However, aerial dynamics will show that one will get more airflow than the other, due to the body mass and air displacement of the leading edges. The lure will twist in the air.
You can combat it with tippet diameter and design, but you do have to recognise that it won’t go completely away.
Good Luck!
Buddy
THANKYOU EVERYONE! :lol:
Lots of great ideas. I’m starting simple and small and we’ll see what happens.
Sounds like a swap to me
Greg
And that’s what I appreciate…pure logic :D…or should I say science?
Of course we would like pics :roll:
This is my first attempt at a topwate rspinner
#4 Nymph Hook
Large Fly Spinner
Red Plastic Bead
Foam Popper Body Reversed and Painted(nail polish)
Black and Chartruse Bucktail
Chartruse Thread
I like the slider Greg posted.
Sorry about the pic and the bugs…like much else around here lately, in a hurry! :roll:
Here are the bugs we were talking about. The bigger was given to us, I think in a swap. Anyway, propellers could be easily added…?
