I was reading “Just Fishing” by Ray Bergman. He suggests that using a fly propeller can sometimes get the trout biting when the streamer action is slow. Bass Pro had some Wapsi fly propellers on sale. I e-mailed the folks at Wapsi and asked what size (Sm., Med., Lrg.) worked best with what size flies? NO RESPONCE!
I realize that the shape and materials as well as the hook size will effect how well the various size propellers will perform. Can someone get me started on using fly propellers…
propellers belong on planes and boats, not flies:)
but if you have to use them
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=41787
buy all 3 sizes and experiment
Try goggling Jann’s netcraft. They have a sizing chart that can be pulled up by scrolling down the lower left side of Home page.
Randall Sale
the Kytroutbum
Phillip,
As you mentioned, the size of the propeller that works best will depend on quite a few variables.
You can often use the smallest sizes with the widest variety of hook sizes. As long as the propellar fits onto the hook shank, it’ll spin. It’s when you upsize the prop that you’ll run into problems with twisting.
I’ve always had the best luck/results by using the smallest propellar that I can get to fit onto the shank.
As Normand suggests, though, buying all three sizes and finding the ones that work best for YOUR flies is often the best course. The things are pretty cheap.
You don’t even have to place them onto the hook shank. If you slide a bead onto the tippet, then the prop, then another bead before you tie on the fly, you can ‘add’ the attraction of the propellar to ANY fly (within reason, you wouldn’t want one in front of a size 20 midge). I prefer this method, as the addition of the two beads offsets the propellar’s propensity to rise in teh water column. If you choos this route, upsize your tippet one ‘X’ size to protect it from the abrasion of the spinning propellar…
By the way, while some may decry their use, they are a time tested and tradtional ‘addition’ to flies. Most of my older tying books have sections on propellar flies, especially for streamers and bass flies. When discussing their use for trout, the comments are almost always about how effective they are on ‘difficult’ fish, for times when the fish seem to not be ‘biting’, and under ‘difficult or adverse conditions’.
Plus, they are fun to fish. The fish tend to hit these really hard…
Buddy
Bear in mind that once you add a prop to a fly pattern, you now have a lure, rather than a fly, by most states definitions. Nothing wrong with that, but you won’t be able to use them in FFO areas.
Flies don’t have propellers.
Really? Why would that be? Most definitions I’ve seen use how the fly is assembled as the defining feature, not the components. A brief online survey finds:
[ul]
[li]California for example an “artificial fly” is “Any fly constructed by the method known as fly tying”.[/li][li]Idaho “ARTIFICIAL FLY: Any fly made entirely of rubber, wood, metal, glass, feather, fiber, or plastic by the method known as fly tying.”[/li][li]Alaska “artificial fly means a fly which is constructed by common methods known as fly tying, including a dry fly, wet fly, and nymph, which is free of bait.”[/li][li]Oregon, "A fly is a hook, dressed with conventional fly tying materials. The affixed materials may be natural or synthetic.[/li][li]Montana oddly enough doesn’t even both distinguishing between lures and flies, but lumps them both together in the same definition of “artificial lure”.[/li][li]Massachusetts seems to define fly fishing by the tackle you use, not the nature of the lure/fly, or at least I couldn’t find a formal definition of an “artificial fly” in the online regulations.[/li][/ul]New York and Vermont are two exceptions I came across where “spinners” are forbidden on flies, so this may just be an East Coast idiosyncracy. In the Western states however, adding a propellor does not appear to change the legal characteristics of a fly. Of course everyone should know the regulations of wherever they happen to be fishing, I just found this sweeping generalization curious.
Here’s the DIRECT LINK for Jann’s http://www.jannsnetcraft.com
…the page vaguely referred to http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/Parts_Sizing.htm
…and the direct link to the chart. http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/downloads/sizing_chart.pdf However this is only a list (a comprehensive one at that) of what Jann’s sells. What hook you use it up to you.
As for the “once you add a propeller it becomes a lure”? ALL flies are lures by definition. Using any one specific material changes nothing.
Anyone that can find the elusive published definition that “to be a fly, it cant have a propeller” or anything else that’s on a official list of unacceptable materials, by all means please post the details of where this is published.
call it whatever you want, everybody else does.
http://www.anglersworkshop.com/items.aspx?catid=1301
Good selection there…
I happen to think a propeller on a fly, is still a fly. I like propellers on flies. I believe Tom Nixon used to hear a lot of stuff similar to what has been said here. Funny his book is a collector’s item now. I admire his work a lot. Remember a long time ago people used flies that were much closer to a lure than a fly. Ray Bergman would use such lures/flies. When things got tough he pulled out the baitcaster, or he used live bait. I love to catch a fish, so I will use whatever method I think will give me a better chance of landing a fish. Most of the time I prefer to fly fish. But sometimes I just love using my spinning gear, or baitcaster. Once in a blue moon I actually buy minnows and use them. I’m with Ray, whatever works is what I will try to use. Some days flies tear 'em up, some days conventional gear is better. Usually fly fishing to me is better…so have fun with a propeller, and no guilt.
And what is the other name for Pistol Petes? Seems like it is some guy in Colorado.
I once tied propeller flies for a fly swap here.
I only had one or two for my self and I have lost them all I think.
I recall that the problem I had with them was they twisted the leader a lot.
Maybe there is a solution for that?
Thorarinn
http://www.pistolpeteflies.com/
click on “hi country flies” at the top of the page for the history
I stumbled onto this with Google, from a John Geirach book: Favorite Trout Patterns and How They Got That Way: “The first rabbit-strip pattern I ever saw was a fly tied by Sandy Pittendrigh called a Roadkill Streamer. It had a strip of natural, brownish gray rabbit lashed to an otherwise bare hook with a silver propeller and a couple of brass beads at the head.”
RE> “what size?” …experiment experiment experiment.
Roadkill Streamer <=== From Rod and Reel, 1985 or so
This one doesn’t have the propeller. But they’re easy to slip on.
IMHO, a propeller just makes a baitfish imitation more imitative. Wounded baitfish twirl around like crazy. Live baitfish make disturbances in the water.
HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT THAN ADDING HOLO-FLASH, METAL EYES, ETC.
Wow, there are some really altitude-enhanced equines around here.
I’m having a real tough time on the Wood River in RI. This weekend, the only solid hit I got was on a bugger with some split shot to get it down (heavy flow and lots of tannin). The first thing that percolated through my grey matter was a propeller and Bergman… Then I find this thread and Tom Dixon is mentioned. I plan to tie some .56ers WITH a propeller and do some “angling” (maybe that will quell those that think “propellers are for planes”). Imagine if folks said hares are for cooking…
W/r.
bluwatr
I don’t know how they’re different from Pistol Petes, but the Colorado version is the Montera Marvel.
Pete Parker headed up the fly tying video theater at the ISE shows for 20+ years before he passed away a couple of years ago. He tied a slider saltwater popper-fly that used a propeller. He always said it created an ‘acoustic footprint’- then he’d snicker. I’m wondering if the Pistol Petes are named after Pete Parker. Just a question, not a statement.
I got past propellers a long time ago. My flies run super-chargers with nitro methane- my ‘top fuel flies’. They also come in parachute versions to slow them down.
FYI, New Hampshire specifically forbids flies tied with spinners (propellers) in FFO areas. I believe Maine does as well.