Petrel Flies for Sharks
Blog › Forums › Fly Fishing › Petrel Flies for Sharks
- This topic has 10 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated Aug 22, 2007 at 4:15 pm by
captharry.
-
AuthorPosts
-
Jul 5, 2007 at 11:22 am #2294
Zach Matthews
The Itinerant AnglerI got a kick out of this.
Jul 5, 2007 at 8:55 pm #18660
Bob RigginsMemberI’ve seen a documentary about sharks gathering at a rookery at the same time every year, just when the young birds are learning to fly.
Jul 6, 2007 at 4:10 pm #18661brian dunigan
MemberYou think I could cast that with a 4wt?
bd
Aug 20, 2007 at 7:59 pm #18662captharry
MemberZach,
First off, sorry to dredge up an old thread. I was doing some tweaking to my web page, to try and get my hompage picked up better by Google, noticed this thread was coming up in my searches. Thought I should post a few comments.
Yeh, Petey started out as a joke, but after the first time it hit the water and two sharks went nuts trying to get to it, the joke was over. 😉 I fixed the stuff you linked to in the first thread, shouldn’t be any need to refresh now, others had the same problem before. Be sure to read Petey’s story, and how he came about. We’ve caught Blacktip, Spinner and Dusky sharks on Petey so far.
Here is a short video of Petey in action.
http://capth3.com/joomla/images/stories/videos/peteyweb.wmv
The shark in the video had actually eaten him twice already before the camera got rolling. In this short clip you see Petey get eaten once, the shark mills around, eats Petey again, gets stung, turns right around and eats him again for a hook up. ;D This shark was also kind of weird in that he did not proceed to a backing burner right off the bat. I think he was still trying to figure out what was going on. (Sharks on 9wts will show you a lot of backing :))This was the first day using Petey, we have since learned to not chug him, just twitch him, and let the shark take him. That 1 Petey caught 8 sharks that day.
I’ve since developed Big Game Petey, for 12wt’s and up. It’s a tube fly like a billfish popper. The regular Peteys cast fine on a 9wt, the wings fold back very easily, no worse than a rabbit strip fly, but you ain’t gonna win a casting contest with him. 😉
Pic of the first prototype Big Game Petey

Big Game Petey hanging froma shark at boatside, notice the popper body has slid up the wire, leaving just the hook. 🙂 Much easier to get out, helps save fingers.

Here is the hatch being matched, Wilson Storm Petril. They get on the slick in minutes.



We have not been given many calm days this year to really put Petey to the test. 🙁 Hopefully later this week and weekend he’ll get a workout.
If you guys have any questions, let me know.
Harry, OutAug 20, 2007 at 8:11 pm #18663Carter Simcoe
MemberCool.
If you aren’t actually chugging them you ought to consider switching to a flat face, they will drag less in the air when casting than a big cupped face.
Aug 21, 2007 at 2:15 pm #18664charlie kreitler
MemberHarry, that’s a brilliant pattern and a great story. I’m going to have to tie up a Petey just for fun. I doubt LIS stripers will go for it, but what the heck. Maybe he’ll find use in a bluefish blitz. Thanks!
Aug 21, 2007 at 4:06 pm #18665
Cameron MortensonMemberWhat is next?
Aug 21, 2007 at 5:18 pm #18666Rich Kovars
MemberWhat is next? Seal popper for Great White Sharks? Ha…
I saw a Shark Week special where they were
Aug 22, 2007 at 5:01 am #18667Morsie
MemberThe TV footage I’ve seen of sharks eating birds involved tiger sharks and young gannets on the Great Barrier Reef. Those sharks also had a lot of difficulty eating the gannets because their noses pushed them away but eventually they ate them.
We get mutton birds out off the Australian east coast and they migrate between Tasmania to Siberia and the Berring Straits every year. They don’t touch land for the first 5 years of their lives (they can live to 50) and at night they form big rafts of birds on the water -apparently makos and tigers get into these rafts. I have heard of one mako that had something like 300 birds in its stomach – I often thought of a bird fly – that is very cool stuff.
Morsie
Aug 22, 2007 at 1:31 pm #18668Gary Grossman
MemberMy guess is that the show Rich was watching took place at the Farrallones Islands off San Francisco.
Aug 22, 2007 at 4:15 pm #18669captharry
MemberThanks Guys!
Carter, Yeh, that would probably work better. The boddies for the Big Game version have been hard to come by. (Edgewater Master Blasters) I’m 0 for 3 on orders placed on the Big Game bodies. -
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.