How to Fish for Salmon with the Floating Devon Minnow

The Devon Minnow

I would suggest that most fisherman have tried "Spinning" for their particular species of fish at some time or another in their fishing career. It can be an effective method of catching fish.

Devon Minnows are manufactured in a wide variety of materials and, in general, the majority are weighted in some form or another to facilitate casting and achieving depth in the water. The Floating Devon, as implied by its name, has no inbuilt weight which offers certain advantages e.g minimal casting skill is required for presentation, the lure works without intervention of the fisherman, lure losses are lower and – probably the most important - the lure fishes more naturally.

Forming the Blank

In this case the minnow is made from wood. Most types of wood are suitable i.e. anything from balsa to pine providing that it will float in the water without any additional medium. The best material I have found is a wooden dowel rod available at most hardware stores around 25mm (approx 1 inch) in diameter.

The first step is to cut the rod into a length for the size of minnow you require and then drill a whole down the center of a size which will fit the trace you are using. Most commercial traces for weighted minnows work well. Next taper both ends of the dowel to form a cigar shape – fat in the center and tapered at each end. This is best done with a wood lathe, however I use a small mandrill consisting of a threaded metal rod securing the blank with a fixed washer at one end and a removable nut and washer at the opposite. Place the mandrill in a vice then with course sandpaper and elbow grease shape the blank.

Adding the Fins

Once the blank has been formed we need to add fins to make the lure spins in the water. The best material for this is obtained from clear plastic bottles such as those for fizzy drinks, Don't use very thin plastic as it makes it difficult to secure in the blank and make sure that it does not go brittle when fishing in cold temperatures. This is important as the first hard obstacle the minnow encounters will snap the fins.

Firstly, cut a slot in the side of the blank approx one third from one end. The thickness of the slot should be suitable for the thickness of the plastic being used. The fin should be an interference fit in the blank – not too tight and not loose. If the plastic you have is thinner than the slot you've made, then consider using double fins i.e. two fins in the one slot.

The first slot should be angled at around 45 degrees to the hole down the center. The second slot is cut on the opposite side to the first, however this time the angle should be in the opposite direction similar to the blades of a fan.

Cut a circle of plastic the diameter of which should be no wider than the width of the slot placed in the body of the blank – slightly less is better. Now trim one side approximately one quarter of the fin diameter- this is the side which will be placed into the slot. Try the fin in the slot for fit. It should slip in and out without undue force. The reason for this is that it makes repairs easier as, without doubt, at come stage the fins will break and require to be replaced.

There is another reason for using plastic. If the minnow does become trapped by the fins, being this type of plastic will assist in its extraction either due their flexibility of they simply snap. Metal is not so forgiving.

Painting the Waterproofing

The colour is generally a personal preference. I personally like fluorescent colours because the clarity of the rivers I fish can be variable depending on weather conditions. However the standard colours are black and gold, red and gold, blue and silver and black and yellow. No doubt everyone has their preference so experiment with what you know and like.

I use safety enamel paint for decoration as it generally only requires one coat and is reasonably tough. Firstly, the blank needs to have an undercoat. Any undercoat for safety enamel paint will do. Once dry, for dual coloured minnows, mark a lateral line down the side of the blank following the centre hole. Paint one half in one colour and, when dry, the other half with the other colour. When the blank has fully dried, then consider adding a top coat of clear safety enamel. This gives the lure endurance. I dip the whole minnow in the enamel which also provides some protection on the inside. By now you should have the completed article ready to use.

Tackle

The floating Devon Minnow is fished in a similar fashion to live bait and, as such, is tackled up in a similar manner. Firstly a length of fishing nylon, the breaking strain of which depends on the type of fishing you intend to do, is cut approximately 60 cm (24 inches) in length. One end is attached to the minnow trace and the other end passed though the minnow body such that the fins of the minnow are at the opposite end to the hook. The open end of the nylon is attached to a ball bearing swivel of a suitable breaking strain. It is important to use ball bearing swivels as the rotating speed of the minnow can be quite fast and swivels which do not have ball bearings tend to snag and the main line takes of the properties of a corkscrew.

Next a section of nylon around 20lb breaking strain approximately 60 mm (4 inches) in length is cut and one end is tied to the open end of the swivel. The open end of the higher breaking strain is then tied to another ball bearing swivel with the open end of this lastly being fixed to the main nylon contained on the reel. So we have main nylon attached to a ball bearing swivel, attached to a piece of nylon approx 20lb strain attached to a ball bearing swivel attached to the leader nylon for the minnow.

Now this is the last piece of the tackle and is quite important. As it stands the tackle has no weight and is unlikely to be cast far nor will not sink into the flow of the river. We now require a weight to overcome each of these but also a weight which will assist in the fishing method. Firstly the weight must be a spherical ball. I have seen torpedo weights used which have been covered in a plastic tube, but these I believe do not help with the action of the minnow. The actual weight depends entirely on the conditions and the distance to be cast. Too light and the fishing action is irregular, too heavy and it runs the risk of being stuck to the river bed. So you need to use some judgement here and possible some trial and error to achieve the correct weight. As a guideline, the minnow is swimming correctly when the weight can be felt bumping along the river bed at a speed which is as slow as possible without becoming stuck on the bottom.

Once the weight is chosen, it is attached to the end of the swivel between the main line and the high breaking strain line. Generally this is attached by using high tensile nylon cord such as that found in window blinds. The colour is irrelevant. Securing the weight can be achieved in a number of ways but I prefer to use a length of solid copper wire approximately 1mm in diameter, such as that found in lighting circuit cable. Bend the wire to form a loop of equal ends and pass both ends through the weight. Bend the ends up on each side of the weight and attach the cord to the loop at the other end. The weight should now be sitting in a wire cradle suspended from the cord. It is important to make sure that the wire cradle is sufficiently strong to ensure the forces encountered when casting.

There are other methods which can be used to secure the weight, but the wire cradle will allow the minnow to be retrieved at the expense of the weight should the latter become snagged. In addition, the reason for the cord and higher breaking strain line is that this section of the tackle is most likely going to come into contact with rocks and other obstacles and needs to be robust in order to avoid abrasion.

Fishing the Floating Devon

The cast is as you would cast any other type of lure except that it is made at a 90 degree angle to the flow of the river. Most other lures are generally cast at somewhere around a 45 degree angle, but not this lure. As soon as the tackle reaches the bottom of the river, secure the bale of the reel and take in any loose line. It is important that you gain contact with the tackle as soon as possible. Raise the tip of the rod such that the weight starts to bounce along the river bed and the action can be felt and seen in the tip of the rod. Let the minnow arc across the flow of the river to end directly in line with you at the end of its swim.

The Minnow Action

What is happening is the weight is in contact with the river bed and being dragged across by the flow of the current. However, as the minnow itself has no weight, it is swimming free and moving around in accordance with the various sub currents in the river. The action is considerably more active than a weighted minnow, as the latter is restricted by the main line and the structure of the river bed. In addition, the minnow starts to swim immediately it come into contact with the river. There is no settling time, as soon as the minnow is in the current it is swimming as it is not restricted by the main fishing line. This is good news if fish a tight to the opposite bank where normal lures do not fish correctly until they are unrestricted by the main line.

The Take

The “Take” with the floating Devon is slightly different to a normally fished lure. As the wight is the contact point between the fisher and the river, the sensation of the take can be reduced slightly depending on the size of the weight. The rule is if it stop s the assume it is a take. In most cases it will be clear enough, but some takes can be gentle so keep this in mind.

Maintenance

It is good practice to inspect the nylon cord, the nylon trace to the minnow and the heavy strain nylon for signs of abrasion. The last thing we want is to loose the fish due to defective tackle. The fins of the minnow will break at some point so, apart from having spares in the tackle box, I carry fins and super glue with me for on-the-spot repairs.