Colours

[Fruin]

Ditto that... excellent looking lure!

[exerod]

sloggi said:

Is that your most successful colour?

Confession time. I've never caught a salmon on one But I have had a few sea trout on them and yes the brown and gold is my favorite colour.
I don't use devons very much as most of the lies on the rivers I spin don't lend themselves to downstream spinning, very small pools and clear water make it difficult to approach from above unseen. I prefer to attack from downtream for which the flying C or the good old mepps are better.

Andy

[zeolite]

That is a nice minnow Andy. I reckon a bigger model would do a job for spring on the Tay. I will give it making some a go. Can I ask why hazel is your preferred wood?
As for small pools and clear water; I used to float a small orange floating rapala down the pool before cranking it back to dive into the lie. That worked on the small spate burn I used to fish.

[kercock]

Wooden dowling cut to desired length drilled,painted etc,plastic milk cartons make passable fins too.

[Sloggi]

I just don't have the time to make them - unlike the master craftamen posing as anglers here

I buy from the Devon Minnow Store - Mac is very helpful. However, I'd give it a go if I could purchase blanks - any ideas where I can buy them. I can't find any online.

[exerod]

zeolite said:

Can I ask why hazel is your preferred wood?

Because I'm to tight to buy wooden dowling!

It grows straight with very few knots and the soft pithy bit up the middle is very small, so you can drill a small hole up the middle and thus make them thinner. Ash looks ok but the pith is so thick the minnow falls in half if you go too thin.

sloggi said:

unlike the master craftamen posing as anglers here

Not me, I never said I was any good at angling

Andy

[Amber]

Hi,

If you keep an eye on e.bay you can pick up collections of old Devon's being sold in bulk numbers.

I like the old DIBRO type. They are plastic with metal fins.

Alternatively you can buy blank plastic shells from some tackle shops, (I got some from Malloch's in Perth). You will need to also buy the fins separately.

It is an reasonably cheap way to stock up on Devon's and an enjoyable way to pass a closed season evening.

[Sloggi]

Thanks Amber. My folks are down in Perth so I'll pop-in to Mallochs and have a look. They also sell the elusive 1 1/2" ruby red Devon which is hard to come by.

[Amber]

Go for the Humbrol red it's number 19 & paint up some ruby red's of your own.

Tight lines.
Amber

[bucko]

Hi all, I've just joined up here but just thought I'd add that copper, which has been my 'bogey' colour for years did well for me this year. And with regard to Yorkshire Esk's post about salmon on one colour and sea trout on another, I've had exactly the same happen on her namesake river.

[1canohworms]

Hi zeolite,
black/gold, black/gold red stripe, gold/yellow, I find productive, 2-3in.
floating or weighted. [water conditions, high/low.
I make and colour them myself, using a vast selection of my daughters nail varnish,top coated with clear varnish.
The blanks I make, from Beech or Oak, fins I buy via Mallochs Perth.

[sinkingtip]

Hi Guys - Let me state at the outset that I believe colour is infinitely more important to the angler than it is to the fish - you may disagree and you would perfectly entitled to do so. If YOU feel confident about whatever colour combinations then use them.....confidence is everything. Interesting to read Kercocks post on 'Page One' regarding the B+W devon being used to great effect on the Tay early season and towards 'last light'. It is similar on the Tweed towards the end of the season when it can be fully dark by 4pm.....at about 3pm the 'shout' comes up "whitewing time" and anglers scramble to fish what is basically a B+W tube or waddington...... so everyone fishes the 'whitewing', they catch fish and then convince themselves that nothing else would have worked. Apropos of this I cannot be convinced for a minute that, had these fishers stuck with whatever patterns they had been fishing with before 'whitewing time' that they would not have had success regardless . Taking all the arguments out of the equation about whether or not fish can distinguish between colours, I believe, and it has been said many many times, that "if it is a fresh fish and it's natural feeding instinct is still strong it will 'have a go' regardless of what 'colour' you present" (fly or spin). Personally, the colours which make me feel 'confident' are Yellow Belly or the 'classic' Black + Gold for spring time - I suppose the reason that I have this self imposed and extremely limited 'colour pallete' is that most anglers have every conceivable colour combination of minnow in their box and after 30 mins (having not connected and failed to land a monster) they 'convince' themselves that the colours are not 'right' and change to something else....maybe their change will herald instant success.....maybe after another 30 mins they will change again....and again.....and again..... if this constant 'ringing the changes' makes them feel more 'confident' then fine......but maybe (just maybe) they would have still 'connected' had they stuck with their original choice .......maybe.....maybe.....maybe - who knows . All I know is that the more time you fiddle around changing lures - or, more importantly, worrying about the colour of lure you are fishing, the less time your minnow, lure or fly is in the water and that your confidence in it is less than total. . The same 'affliction' affects fly fishers also. Falkus refers to it as "fly twitch for which there is no known cure". For me fly fishing takes over totally from April to the close of season but IF I were to choose 'back end' colours for spinning then they would be based on 'hot' orange / ruby red / gold. Why ? because I feel confident with this rationale and that is good enough for me. Fish with CONFIDENCE - chances are that what you have chosen will have no difficulty whatsoever in attracting fresh fish straight in off the tide and with a powerful feeding instinct still intact. As a final note to this I will divulge that my fly box has been 'streamlined' over the 35 odd years I have been seriously fishing for salmon to the following - Spring : Yellow / Red / Black (and combinations thereof) tubes or waddingtons with either Gold or Silver bodies. Summer : variations on the Silver Stoat's Tail - end of !!. As Falkus states in his book 'Salmon Fishing' "the lower, clearer and warmer the water is the smaller and more subdued in colour your fly should be" - or something like that. Assuming, for most fishers, that your main fly fishing months are May, June, July and August then you see why my fly box is almost exclusively Stoat variants - you cant get more "subdued" than Stoats Tail's !! Autumn : Variations on the Ally's Shrimp / General Practitioner - hot orange / red and 'aggressive' in colour. This post is more about your confidence in fishing any given colour of 'lure' as opposed to the importance of colour on the willigness (or not) for a fish to 'take'......but 'hey'...thats only my opinion