Davis Orange Spanker

Hi friends,

This fall we did our annual sport fishing for silvers. A long running tradition for the Davis’. I am not sure if you all know, but George invented a Silver Salmon fly that has become recognized in the sport fishing world as one of the leading Pacific salmon flies invented. This is quoted to be on the top list of go-to flys for Salmon amongst people such as Tom Pero editor and publisher of Salmon Trout and Steelhead magazine, Mike Mercer, and Pat Pendergast of the world famous “The Fly Shop” in Redding California. They sell a version of George’s fly and call it the Davis Spanker in their catalogue. Many a fish has been caught on this famous fly. I thought I would write a post about the History of where the fly got it’s origin.

DAVIS SPANKER FLY

George is a long time Alaskan Bush Pilot and guide. George has been guiding sportsman for over 30 years. It is his goal to find the most cutting edge remote fisheries. He was one of the first to pioneer “Dry Fly” fishing for Silver Salmon in Alaska. In his quest for catching Salmon he invented the “Davis Spanker”.This fly is quoted by professional anglers to be “One of the best Pacific Salmon flies ever invented.” Over the years George has researched all of Alaska’s fisheries, and has found the most exclusive areas for Rainbows, Steelhead, and Salmon. His most recent research has been directed towards Salt Water Fly Fishing. Because of George’s extensive background in commercial fishing it has helped him find the best locations and techniques to fish for Halibut, Ling Cod, Rock fish, and Salmon on the Salt.

The Davis Spanker fly was invented by George Davis in 1985. He had a commercial fishing set net camp on the Italio River. A friend from Anchorage, Kerry Barker, flew out to visit and brought some fly tying materials. George and Kerry stayed up all night tying flies up for the next day fishing adventure. That is when the Davis Spanker came to life. It has been a number one salmon fly since it’s inception. The original spanker was Chartreuse with a rabbit strip tail. The pink is an original color too. The spanker was named that because it “spanks” the salmon. He named the pink fly the Lady Spanker. When the new colors of ice chenille came out then we started using color variations in our flies. George invented a new style of spanker called the Super Spanker that he ties in white ice chenille and orange with a crystal flash wing on it. This is a great fly. We tie spankers in all colors and style and size variations due to water conditions. We even tie them with a barbell head for sinking down in fast moving water.

The spanker is a versatile fly that in different sizes and colors that can be used in any water condition. It is a great fly for other species of salmon besides Silver Salmon. We even use it for steelhead, rainbow and cutthroat trout. Even with all of the innovations in fly tying material, the original chartreuse and pink spankers remain a top producer in numbers of fish caught. The Davis Spanker is well known in the industry to be a “KILLER” Alaska Salmon fly. Fly shops have copied George’s pattern, but the flys you buy from anywhere else are not tied properly and fall apart after you catch one fish. Our hand tied flies are superior made and last for years of use catching hundreds of fish.

For the Salt Water George had been using lead headed jigs with rubber grubs. George had an idea when he saw the fly tying material laying next to a jig on the table. George made a skirt out of fly tying material and tied it on the jig. Low and behold it was out catching all of the other jigs and bait we were using. George called this the spanker jig. We tie variations of this jig, and use ice chenille on some of them.

Besides the spanker flies and salt water jigs, George pioneered the Dry Fly fishing on the Lost Coast. George was using floating line in shallow water with a streamer fly. The salmon were coming close to the surface and eating the flies. He and Larry Dahlberg were fishing in 1993, doing a show for ESPN Hunt for the Big Fish. George told Larry to bring up some of his Dahlberg Divers that he was using on Pike, and Sliders that were being used for Bass. George knew the aggressiveness of silvers and knew you could catch salmon on the surface. Well, his innovation paid off, the silvers attacked the surface fly like sharks! This is where Dry Fly fishing for silvers was born. Since the Davis’ are avid fly tiers they took the bass bug and created their own versions of deer hair dry flys to meet the needs of Alaskan anglers. Our flies are a combination between bass bugs, Dahlberg Sliders and Dahlberg Divers. Jill invented a dry fly called the Ice Cream Cone that silver salmon can’t resist!

Jill Davis' Ice Cream Cone

Check out the Davis Spanker and Ice Cream Cone in action in our Alaska Wild Adventures!

Hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for more posts on real Adventures in the Wilds of Alaska.

Take care, tight lines and screaming reels,

Jill Davis of the Lost Coast

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