Non-Fly Dirtbags (and bank maggots) what are your fav weighted spinners?

My tackle trays, boxes, totes, etc are fairly empty of spinners suitable for salmon outside of some blue foxes.

My usual local place to pickup gear and tackle is Bimart, where no weighted spinners are to be found.

I used some Amazon points and picked up a selection of 8 #4 torpedo body weighted spinners from a company up in Vancouver. (Canada not vantucky). Unknown to me but they were free, so I’ll give them a go.

Almost bought some from Shortbus, and another local spot from I think Oregon City I read about elsewhere.

So my question for all of you dirtbags; what weighted spinners do you like? Ideally made in the PNW.

Thanks
 

Divad

Whitefish
Mepps are always in my kit but I think they’re Midwest made and overpriced. I saw a company North Fork Lures, been wanting to try them they’re made in Woodland and very good price for locally handmade stuff.

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Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
#1 in my book, for steelhead especially, but I carry other color rooster tails as well. Yakima Bait. Last couple salmon came on unweighted simon spinners (Mexican Hat).
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SilverFly

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
No idea what's available these days, but interested to follow this. Used to fish a lot of spinners for coho. "Old timer" status is officially awarded to anyone who remembers Metric and Bolo spinners being standard in the 70's.

Some gray dirtbag/fly area I like with spinners, besides similarities in presentation tactics, is customizing hooks with fly tying. Nothing new with that since Rooster Tails have been around. And more recently with hootchie spinners. Last time I fished a spinner was a Blue Fox from my found lure collection. Changed out the treble with a hootchie fly and got a fat chromer late run on it.

Come to think of it, custom lure mods could be a common ground topic with real potential for fly and gear idea sharing.
 

SilverFly

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
"Stole" some old pics of mine from a post on WFF. I had forgotten about Steelhead by Bud spinners.

All these were found, and modified. Looks like I murdered a hootchie to use as tying material:
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Second to left caught this late run SWW silver:
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SurfnFish

Legend
Forum Supporter
Regarding Jack 'Flyman' Harrel (what the locals have called him for many years) of Pacific City,....when I first met him, I was scouting the river when I saw him emerge from a popular King hole in wetsut and snorkel gear (he used to be a competition sprear fisher) with a small plastic bucket, drain holes punched in the bottom, a dozen or so large spinners and the usual dirtbag size 5 hooks weights, leaders and bobbers filling it. Jack did this every year during summer low flows for decades, cleaning up river sections. In the utility room in the back of his cottage a 6' line is strung across the windows, filled with spinners and lures hanging from it, most going back decades. Quite the collection.
 

Little Fork

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
My tackle trays, boxes, totes, etc are fairly empty of spinners suitable for salmon outside of some blue foxes.

My usual local place to pickup gear and tackle is Bimart, where no weighted spinners are to be found.

I used some Amazon points and picked up a selection of 8 #4 torpedo body weighted spinners from a company up in Vancouver. (Canada not vantucky). Unknown to me but they were free, so I’ll give them a go.

Almost bought some from Shortbus, and another local spot from I think Oregon City I read about elsewhere.

So my question for all of you dirtbags; what weighted spinners do you like? Ideally made in the PNW.

Thanks
My favorite spinners are built from components sourced from three West Coast companies R & B, First Strike, and Pen Tac. Pen Tac has, in my opinion, the best blade finishes on the market. R & B’s torpedo bodies are my first choice for bodies. First Strike is the only one who consistently has matte silver blades in stock.
#2 copper blade with a black body has hooked a lot of sea run cutthroat in the last month on the North Oregon coast.
 

Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
RT's in various sizes, colors, are just plain killer for almost everything.
Later the same day we caught our first river fish on a fly, we caught our first river fish on hardware, a brown rooster tail. Grandpa is teaching him how to play dirty too. He wanted to hold it, then it wiggled.
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cchinook45

Smolt
Forum Supporter
My tackle trays, boxes, totes, etc are fairly empty of spinners suitable for salmon outside of some blue foxes.

My usual local place to pickup gear and tackle is Bimart, where no weighted spinners are to be found.

I used some Amazon points and picked up a selection of 8 #4 torpedo body weighted spinners from a company up in Vancouver. (Canada not vantucky). Unknown to me but they were free, so I’ll give them a go.

Almost bought some from Shortbus, and another local spot from I think Oregon City I read about elsewhere.

So my question for all of you dirtbags; what weighted spinners do you like? Ideally made in the PNW.

Thanks
Mepps Flying C . Sandy coho killer.
 

Rob Allen

Life of the Party
I used to love luhr Jensen sneek spinners but they don't seem to be available any longer. Also, I never did that well on them, I just liked them.
Any more I just use blue fox spinners, they are pretty light but they seem to work just fine... I've tried making my own but they aren’t any better or significantly cheaper than store bought. Ultimately the fish just need to be in a chasing mood, and when they are what design rarely makes a difference.
 
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