A lot of purists out there might frown upon the idea of having accessories like propeller blades, rubber jigging worms & even tiny spinner blades attached to their fly, & would class them more a lure than a fly.
A lot of purists out there might frown upon the idea of having accessories like propeller blades, rubber jigging worms & even tiny spinner blades attached to their fly, & would class them more a lure than a fly. Personally I've nothing against adding some bling, as long as it can be propelled through the air with fly line and fly rod....It's classed as fly in my eyes.
The problem with these kinds of accessories when applied to a hook though is they just don't perform as you would expect them too during the normal retrieval of a fly, purely because you're unable to retrieve the fly back quick enough for you to impart enough constant current around or over them. This is particularly noticeable in closed water systems like lakes, dams & gravel pits, and really only come into their own when fished in medium/fast flowing rivers.
Coupled with that, depending on where you attach these (Spinner blades/Propellers) has a detrimental knock on effect with how the overall performance of the fly will fish as well. Tie them too far forward, and you're susceptible to entanglement around the materials you've tied on behind them. Attaching them too far back and the fly swims unevenly and subsequently the materials in front of them hinder decent current flow over & around them making them an impractical addition.
Anyway to alleviate all these small inherent problems mentioned above, over the last four years I've been adding a single tiny spinner blade that runs freely along my wire trace, away and in front of my fly. It adds very little extra weight to my cast & the blades spin more freely during each strip through a retrieve. Now I don't fish with this bling bling set up all year round. Only in late autumn once the water clarity deteriorates due to the excessive plant life dying off, making the water extremely murky, and also when I'm fishing during summer months at depths of around 4m- 6m.
Looking back at my annual stats for the last four years, I have noticed a marked increase in the amount of pike I've brought to hand when using this system, but this could also be due to a multitude of other factors that come into play (Fly choice - size/colouration) Speed of retrieve, time of day... the list goes on. What I can say is they don't seem to hinder a pike's want to attack my flies in any way as this is evident by the amount of snotrockets I catch using this system.
Blade choice is very important with this technique, and I've found the tiny rounder Colorado blades work the best as they require less speed and a slower retrieve to maintain a constant spinning action along the wire trace. Not only that but they are super light and don't hinder your cast in anyway. At the end of the day, this system wont be to everyone liking but I'ts a nice edition that could only improve your chances when fly fishing for pike in murky water conditions or when fishing at depth.
