fly alternatives to lures?

What are some good flies to use to imitate blue/silver Mepps #5 and
Blue Fox #6 spinners? That is what is catching salmon on the feather,
also what are some good salmon flies?

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004, Steve Sullivan wrote:

What are some good flies to use to imitate blue/silver Mepps #5 and
Blue Fox #6 spinners? That is what is catching salmon on the feather,
also what are some good salmon flies?


I think you're out of luck. Take a look at a book called Spinner Fishing
by Jed Davis. The types of water you will be targeting with a spinner for
anadromous runs are tough to fish effectively with a fly. Also the
vibrations that are emitted from a spinner blade cannot be duplicated with
a fly. Large bunny strips, egg-sucking leeches and similarly obnoxious
flies have worked for me in Michigan and Alaska.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
\ Mu Young Lee
remove all dashes and underscores in reply address

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004, Steve Sullivan wrote:


What are some good flies to use to imitate blue/silver Mepps #5 and
Blue Fox #6 spinners? That is what is catching salmon on the feather,
also what are some good salmon flies?

This raises "matching the hatch" to a new level. :-)

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

Steve Sullivan wrote in message ...
What are some good flies to use to imitate blue/silver Mepps #5 and
Blue Fox #6 spinners? That is what is catching salmon on the feather,
also what are some good salmon flies?

You can fish a spinner blade with a flyrod.
The trick is making one light enough to cast with a flyrod.
Lure making supply shops (there are many online) now
sell a plastic clevis. This is a short, thin-diameter plastic tube
with a U-shaped plastic clip on it. You can attach a lightweight
Colorado spinner blade to the plastic clevis, thread the plastic
clevis onto a 1x or 2x flourocarbon tippet, and then thread a
plasic bead onto the tippet and then attach any wet fly you want
to fish with. You now have a wet fly with a spinner blade in front, that
is indeed light enough to cast with a flyrod....works particularly
well for me during runnoff--when the rivers are muddy and I can't
catch fish with traditional flies.

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Salmo Bytes wrote:

You can fish a spinner blade with a flyrod.
The trick is making one light enough to cast with a flyrod.

That's true Sandy but my guess is that for salmon, Steve is interested in
imitating size 5 and larger French-blade spinners which generate a great
deal more thumping in the water than the small Colorado or bow-tie style
blades that are available for flies.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
\ Mu Young Lee
remove all dashes and underscores in reply address

Steve Sullivan wrote:
What are some good flies to use to imitate blue/silver Mepps #5 and
Blue Fox #6 spinners? That is what is catching salmon on the feather,
also what are some good salmon flies?

I think you've asked the right question last, and the wrong question
first. I for one fly fish because it's a different challenge from
spinner fishing which I used to do. If you try to duplicate the
spinners, you're barking up the wrong tree. Instead you need to ask
what it is about the spinners that attracts the fish, and how to
trigger the same response. I think you can find solutions that work
better than the spinners, and that I think is the meat of your second
question.

It's not so much which flies are good as which presentations are the
ones that catch the fish. I've found that nymphing with steelhead
charlies and single egg patterns can produce as many fish, and even
more than spoons and spinners. The key to these patterns is using a
good large sharp hook, and presenting it dead drift at the level of the
fish. I use #1 to #2/0 octopus bait hooks with the eyes straightened
out. (Propane torch to heat them, smooth jaw pliers to straighten the
up eye, and drop them in a cup of water to re-harden the eye.)
Sometimes in colored water the egg needs to be 3/4 inch in diameter, in
clear water 5/16 or even 1/4 works better, but the larger hooks give
you a chance to hang onto the fish. I think these flies are taken
because of their color, not because they immitate spawn. Sometimes
chartreus or yellow will outfish orange and pink, check the colors the
spin fisherman are using, sometimes that's a good hint.

Chas
remove fly fish to reply
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San Juan Pictures at:
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Mu Young Lee wrote in message cc.itd.umich.edu...
On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Salmo Bytes wrote:

You can fish a spinner blade with a flyrod.
The trick is making one light enough to cast with a flyrod.

That's true Sandy but my guess is that for salmon, Steve is interested in
imitating size 5 and larger French-blade spinners which generate a great
deal more thumping in the water than the small Colorado or bow-tie style
blades that are available for flies.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
\ Mu Young Lee
remove all dashes and underscores in reply address

Fair enough: a size 5 French blade probably is a little too much for
almost
any flrod. But you can get a pretty good throb from a #3 or #4
thin-diameter Indiana or Colorado blade. I throw them a lot
during the runoff season. The early season Yellowstone has been so
muddy for
so long (well forever probably, but more so ever since the 1988
fire season) many of the local guides have discovered you
can catch fish during the off-color water season. All you need is
about 12" of
fuzzy visability and huge rubber-leggy flies...throwing "junk," it's
often called.

Add a #4 Colorado spinner blade to the usual junk and it works
even better. A long leader that tapers from 35lb at the butt to
1x flourocarbon at the clevis makes tossing heavy stuff practical.
With an 8wt flyrod I can deliver a lightweight lure at 60'

For anyone tempted to ask "why not just get a spinning rod?" the
answer
is "why not indeed?" Lure fishing with a good spinning rod is a blast.
Still, I do prefer the feel of a flyrod in my hand most of the time,
and like the way I can pick up 45' of line, backcast once and lay
it back down again--something you cannot do with a spinning rod.


http://montana-riverboats.com/static.../Flinners.html

"Salmo Bytes" wrote in message
m...

For anyone tempted to ask "why not just get a spinning rod?" the
answer
is "why not indeed?" Lure fishing with a good spinning rod is a blast.
Still, I do prefer the feel of a flyrod in my hand most of the time,
and like the way I can pick up 45' of line, backcast once and lay
it back down again--something you cannot do with a spinning rod.


No you can't pick up 45' of line with a spinning rod, back cast once and lay
it back down again.

But you can retrieve 45' of line while fishing possible productive water,
and then cast out 45' again and start all over.