Pistol Petes and Spin Tail Flies

[TubeDude]

[cool]Hey, JapanRon...and you other fly floggers out there. Anybody ever used a "Pistol Pete"? These are a line of flies originated in Colorado and have become pretty popular with trout fishermen throughout the mountain states. They also make lines for bass, salmon and salt water fishes. I haven't had a chance to try them in the salt yet but I have made a few of my favorite patterns into "Petes".

They feature a propeller style spinner blade at the front of the fly, which spins when retrieved, or allowed to tumble in the current. The extra bit of flash and vibration seems to trigger lots of reaction strikes. Here's a pic of some of the ones I have made up, and another pic of a take off on some jigs I have been making and using successfully for several years...featuring a small Colorado spinner blade on the back.

How about it JR? Give you any ideas?




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[JapanRon]

Hi TubeDude,

When I first saw the pics a very small smirk developed in my contenence, then it hit me. When looking at fishy food, ya gotta put yourself in the fishys place. How many times have I had to relearn that! ha ha

I just wonder how well those spinners or pistol petes would do in the the surf. Imagine, the wave/surf goes out, you don't retrieve line but tantalizingly jig the tasty morsal at just the right depth above the depression or trough you know holds those cruising 3lb corbina or slab perch. The telltail dorsal fin, the vicious strike and away you go. Kinda gets ya all distracted don't it?

If you could make a crab color (orange) with brass blades, I'll bet that would catch em' here on the south bay beaches.

The bottom pics remind me of some flies I saw tied for pike and muskie for fishing way up north ol' Canada way.

I would like to try a couple of your ties on the crab pistol pete and I'll do some of my original ties that throbs in the current in trade if agreable. The crab size can be about the size of your thumbnail.

JapanRon
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[TubeDude]

[cool]I have several colors of green to orange body materials, that I get in the hobby shops. It is called "craft cord" and I use it in a high percentage of all my jigs, bait bugs and flies these days. I'll whip up a few for your field testing. I need to get some more small brass propeller blades first.

By the way, do you throw spinning gear in the surf? If so, I make a lot of different little jigs and "Roadrunner" spinner jigs that are killers...with or without a bit of plastic or bait on them. I have several "crawdad" colors that work both in fresh water and salt. I'll put up a pic of those for you to look at too.

I have a whole line of short-tailed jigs, mostly made from durable synthetics, designed to be fished with a piece of worm or fish flesh. I call them "bait bugs". If you like, I can send you a writeup on those, with instructions for tying them.


ROADRUNNER JIGS





BAIT BUG JIGS


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[tomegun]

[] [green][size 2]There goes my secret supplier givin' away da goods![blush][/size][/green]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][font "Comic Sans MS"][red][size 5]SH-H-H-H-H[/size][/red][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#ff0000][size 5]They still ain't got all my "A" stuff.[/size][/#ff0000][/font]
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[JapanRon]

Hi there TubeDude,

The writeup on your version of the roadrunner would be great. Your runners and the bait bugs look like they are most fine ties. I'm interested in knowing your solution to putting the wire on the shank or head and what you used to allow the blade a full and smooth spin.

I'm trying to knock down a lot of stuff from 1/4oz to 1/16th, 1/32nd and even 1/64th ounce for use with the bug rod and ultra ultra lite combo.

JapanRon
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[TubeDude]

[cool]I will be emailing you the writeups on making and using the bait bugs and roadrunners. By the way, I also make some great inline spinners, using my jig molds and those synthetic materials. I can make them all the way from heavy to surface sputter.

Refer to the pic below for a visual on the attachment of the spinners. The Roadrunner jigs are poured with a small crane swivel in the special mold. You attach a split ring and a blade once you have the plain head painted. I have two kinds of molds. One, with a barbed collar, for fishing with plastics. The other is not barbed. That is the one I use for decorating with flashy colorful stuff. Note the big boy at the bottom. That is great for bass and salt water...with large twisters, shad or Hammers. The flashy little spinner sometimes really is a good addition.

Making spinner tails incorporates some of the same principles and materials as the Roadrunners. I use the same size 10 or 12 crane swivels I mold into the Roadrunners, and the same size 0 split rings and size 0 or 1 blades. I use bigger blades for big wooly buggers I fish at night for bass. I use a fine wire to tie to one loop of the crane swivel. Stiff mono works just as well, if not better.

The first step is to measure out the length you will want, by deciding how long you want the tail on the fly. Make the length of the wire/mono just long enough to have the spinner blade start at the far edge of the tail. Make a few wraps of thread on the hook shank and then wrap the wire/mono in position. Once anchored, you can make a few wraps of the wire/mono around the shank and then a few more wraps of thread over that. Clip off the excess wire/mono, and begin building your fly.

By the way, how do you like the colors on my jig heads? I have been doing a lot of glitter painting the last few years, and I put eyes on almost everything. I also have writeups on all of that stuff if you are interested.

If you fish for perch and corbina in the shallows, those little Roadrunners and bait bugs are dy=no=mite. As you astutely observed, they really come into their own when you hold them against current, or outgoing surge. They pick up off the bottom and those little blades give off vibrations similar to a sand crab trying to dig back in before getting slurped by a predator.

Since I pour and tie all my own stuff, I have been able to balance my offerings to the targets at hand. I do not have to settle for the hook sizes that come with commercially made jigs, and I make lots of modifications. Some big fish like a slow fall, or a slow swim in shallow water. You can't get that with a 1/4 to 1/2 ounce head. But, when you can pour a 1/8 or 1/16 oz head on a hook large enough to fish a 3" to 5" plastic, you can finess the heck out of finicky fishes.

Actually, when you get down into the 1/16 and 1/32 oz. size heads, you can fish them on fly rods too, if you have enough starch in your stick and know how to handle weight on the end of your line withour giving yourself an "earectomy". For some extra enjoys, try the super lite Roadrunners on a fairy wand.

Are we having fun yet


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[JapanRon]

Hi there TubeDude,

Awesome stuff! I've got a floppy disk with TubeDude written on it for just your posts. I guess I didn't mention it but almost all my 32nd and all my 64th oz guys are for my 8 wt, bug taper and or FW setups.

I don't know if you have a Micheals store in your area but it is a place where predominately ladies go to get there craft supplies. It's huge and a chain store. Anywho, you can get some unbelievabley small, no, tiny thingys that can be used in making our dreams come true. Split rings, crimps loops, beads all tinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny. Honest, you need a magnifyer and you gotta make tools to use 'em.

Thanks for the know how,

JapanRon
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[davetclown]

you have found the real treasure of this site.

It is the weath of knolage available here at bigfish that will get you on the fish show you how to hook up on them, and even how to serve them with great taist and style.

if others followed your example they would, gain the greatest treasures that any one can provide. and when you add your own personal touch to your endevors you will find the divreance between the amiture, novous, and master anglers.

the answers are here, and you have the power of the force obewon, soon you will be the master, and not to forget, that even the master still learns from his suroundings.
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[TubeDude]

[cool] Hey, JapanRon San. Not only do I KNOW about Michaels, I own stock in them. I also own stock in Home Depot, Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops. Only problem is that none of them ever sends me certificates or dividends, no matter how much I keep investing in them.

We've got another chain of craft stores over here called CraftMart. That's where I find some of my better colors of craft cord and metallic braid for my modern creations. Oh yeah, even Walmart has some of that stuff if you look for it.

My crane swivels, split rings and small spinner blades come mostly from Cabelas. However, I also buy from Jann's Netcraft and Barlows. Are you familiar with them? I'll be happy to post a link if you don't already have them on your list.

You talk T-I-N-Y. When I am going for slab sized BSP, I go the other way. I used to fish some big streamers and bunny leeches (sand worms) off the beaches from Malibu to Gaviota...and from Huntington to Balboa. I also took them down below Ensenada, on some of the remote beaches along the Pacific coast of Mexico. Can you think 5# BSP...on a beach all by yourself...with nobody to brag to? Talk about needing resusitation.

Most of my surf streamers were very basic silvers, golds, yellows, whites and greens...with an occasional black or purple. Of course I pitch a few hot pinks and oranges too. A combo of olive green with a hot orange butt is great for most surf zone dwellers. I have labored to crank out "match the hatch" shrimp and crabs, but have not found them to produce noticeably better than a well presented "basic representation" pattern. My theory is that when the water is moving and the visibility is not that great, predatory fish often munch first and do a quality control analysis later.

Before I bought my first lead melting pot and jig molds, I used to make my own leadhead jigs from split shot. I often used the same principle to make a leadhead fly...for casting or trolling. A small BB shot right behind the eye is fast and cheap. Paint it and put an eye on it, and you have a light jig fly that you can throw with a decent fly rod.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Hey, Dave. Are you getting any closer to getting yourself fitted out for an inflated bass boat?

Supposed to be in the high seventies with sunshine this weekend, so I plan to properly christen my new craft. I'll be shooting some digital pics on the add-ons and I'll put 'em up for JAMartin...and anyone else who might be interested.

Who knows...I might even have a couple of naked fish pictures. Piscatorial pornography. But I promise it won't be anything you have to edit.

By the way. Sorry I didn't get that website post. By the time I went back to bleep it you had got it. Thanks.
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[JapanRon]

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Hey there TubeDude,

Do I remember Jann's? I believe I was getting one of their funny little catalogues in 1963-64. They had all these old illustrations of all this stuff I didn't understand because I was young and besides it was mostly what I thought was east coast gear. I was making (around 15) my first flyfishing bass popppers about that time. Still have them too. Wine bottle cork carved bodies, tail feathers from a feather duster, legs were rubberbands. Serious!

Ya, I remember making some propeller type lures, really just wire, a propeller, and a shaped sinker with beads, that were a take off on some of the steelhead spinners that were being used, not in the lakes like davis blades, in the rivers along with some rig that also had roe. I'm not talking about the ones they have today that have a roundish body with affixed blades. Ah those were interesting times.

Big baits for the surf perch. If you go to another big site's surf fishing board, you will cry your eyes out at the huge, I mean huge perch that are being caught up and around Malibu yesterday and today. They're using big baits, just as you said!
[/left] [center][url "http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/843.jpg"][/url]
[#ff0080]click on pic to see larger size[/#ff0080]

(HERE'S THE PIC FROM THE OTHER SITE...POSTED BY TUBE DUDE)


Nuff from me for now

JapanRon
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Yeah, I saw that pic after I had posted my suggestion for the larger offerings. I was going to refer you to it, but since I have seen your posts on the California board I figured you would stumble into it.

I kid you not, that was about an average size fish off the beach down at San Antonio Del Mar, about fifty miles south of Ensenada. About this time of year the big mamas start coming in to bear their live young. My first trip down there I was with an old timer who showed me how to dig my toes down in the sand, in shallow water during low tide, and find the big pismo clams. We kept some to eat and opened others for bait. The giant perch wouldn't leave us alone.

In subsequent years I brought both fly rod and light spinning tackle. When the big Pacific storms were not pounding the shore with 12 foot waves, it was fantastic. Even in high surf there were enough fish to keep it interesting. And a slab BSP on light tackle, in heavy water, is about all the fun you can stand.

Just once before you cash in your chips you need to spend some time along the coastline of northern California and up into Oregon. Those big rainbow surf perch up there routinely run over two pounds and they love flies.

Here are the links on those two sites I mentioned. I think you will find that Jann's has expanded their line somewhat since the "olden days".

[url "http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/default.asp?p=0"][font "Times New Roman"][#800080][size 3]http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/default.asp?p=0[/size][/#800080][/font][/url][font "Times New Roman"][size 3] JANN’S[/size][/font]

[url "http://barlowstackle.com/"][font "Times New Roman"][#800080][size 3]http://barlowstackle.com/[/size][/#800080][/font][/url][font "Times New Roman"][size 3] BARLOW’S[/size][/font]
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[davetclown]

I am hopin to do the hoop thing this spring, we are going to have a heet wave this weekend, it will be getting up to a scaulding 35 degreese on fryday. break out out the sun tan loation.[cool]

I will be looking at your new set up closely, to see if my caboose will fit. you may want to see if outcast will sponcer you as a modle.[blush] and spokes man for their product.[sly]

I think you have just about talked me in to the fat cat.[cool]
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Hey Dave, I will be finishing transferring all my "bells and whistles" to my new "kitty" and taking it out for a dunking this weekend. I plan to take several digital pics of the add-ons and my methods of attachment...as well as some of the special features I like. I will also do a brief writeup on the specs...and how it performed on its maiden voyage.

I hope you have your air conditioning working. If you are not prepared for that heat wave you might get heat stroke. Better than snow stroke. That's why I live in Arizona and not in Michigan. I'm going to have to put up with shirtsleeves and 80 degrees this weekend on the lake. But don't worry about me. I have my new prescription for "spring fever". That would be my new Cat and a whole bunch of new jigs and lures I have been making while I haven't been able to get on the water.
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[JapanRon]

Hi TubeDude,

Went early this morning and got 2 corbina and 7 surf perch on a fly, before the show, that imitates a crab with a red butt and a celophane casing on the back to imitate the semi-transparent shell. Not bad for less than 20 casts of not more than 20 feet max. I have to admit it. I got the fly for answering a question right at a beach flyfishing seminar. Very difficult question. When should you go fishing? I ain't tellin nobody the answer. Was that a double-negitive? ha ha

JapanRon
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Let me guess. The best time to go fishing is whenever you can. That has been my credo for years. It goes right along with "Fishing is always good...even if the catching ain't"

I envy you on your successful "mini-expedition". Sometimes those quick hits can be very productive, and can sustain you through a whole day of nasty stuff...like work. I have had a lot of times over the years when I have made a "hit and run" shot in between more onerous and mundane tasks.

When the fishing is bad (never), you don't have as much problem breaking free to return to reality. But, when you have to leave active fish, you begin to examine your real priorities in life. And the boss is tough to convince that you are an hour late for the important meeting because you "had a flat tire"...when you come in smelling like fish and with a silly on your face.

I see in your other post that you also had a good time at the show. Hope it didn't affect your "net" worth too badly. But then again, investments in new fishing stuff should be deductible on your taxes...and we should be able to claim tackle manufacturers as dependents. Right?
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[JapanRon]

Hey there TubeDude,

Two days at the show was enough. I would like to go to another that will be at the Ponona Fairplex Sat & Sun but money doesn't buy what it used to.... and probably never did! ha ha Seminars were great, I saw a few of them twice!

Bought some really neat glue. It's called Miracle Glue. Pretty clever naming huh? They have an email address and a phone number in the 626 area code. Anyway here's the deal:

It's a cousin of super glue but it doesn't have an element that causes those little tubes to dry up immediately after onetime use. grrrrrrrrrrr

This stuff will glue almost anything together and the way that it STICKS is that when you put one thing on another thing that has a drop of this stuff and push it together, you push the air from between the two things. Lack of air causes the glue to do its job.

Even if you know of it, others might find it useful. As always, lots of fun to BS. Not to insult anyone, If we make an officially recognized cult of fishing, could be get tax exemption for our pilgramages and retreats?

JapanRon
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Don't you be relegating our "religion" to CULT status. That's for those whackos in Waco. But you have given me a vision. I see the light. For verily I have been baptized upon the waters and have been known to sample the influences of the "spirits". Now, if we can get ourselves some inflatable altars (live bait receivers), and get some late night TV programs to hustle up some offerings (tackle money), we might be on our way.

That new glue sounds interesting. I am always looking for new paints and adhesives for rod building and lure making. I LOOOOOVE modern technology. Does that stuff act as a "contact cement"...or more like a vacuum seal? Like yourself, I have discarded a few useless tubes of glue that have only been used once or twice.
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[davetclown]

sorry I did not get back to you sooner, I have been out on the ice for the last week. 8 hours perday.

Ice fishishing is over for me, my lake is no longer safe to venture on.

I got sunburned on my face pritty good, I am blistering now, [blush]

how did your maden voiage go?
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