Are there any Panfish Flyfishermen out there

[hunter1]

For Blue gills I like using a bumble bee fly, or an ant pattern. Love to hear that smack when they hit.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Big time FF panfisher here. I used to fish Perkiomen Lake (not sure if it still goes by this name), Lake Luxembourg, Leaser Lake, Nockamixon, Struble Lake, Marsh Creek and others. If you hit a school of perch, crappie...the action can be fast and furious. Pie plate bluegills are a blast as well. My favorite fly is actually a grey maribou streamer with silver ice chenille body and a red maribou throat. Fly is killer.

 

[shakey]

Another panfish fly , I forgot to mention is the bully spider.

It’s just a chenille body with an X of rubber legs.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

I hit the local lake today mid afternoon. Not much of a bite but still managed a handful of gills , one small bass and two micro bass, plus several small perch. Mostly fished a bugger on a jig hook, and a Peal estaz fly with yellow maribou tail also on a jig hook. Slower than average but still a good time!

 

[Baron]

Caught a nice pickerel......on a meal worm, go figure. I bet if I asked what to use for pickerel no one would have mentioned meal worms.
I've learned to fillet Pickerel and this one paid the price for his hoity-toity tastebuds. Brought home 8 Perch in the 12" range and no Gills. A guy near me caught a large Crappy. Threw back many many fish. Half were caught with bait/spinning gear and half on flys. I used some old fly I had that looked like a beadhead woolybugger in chartreuse and black. Then a deceiver.
Ospreys and Geese everywhere.

 

[Baron]

My goodness you folks are a wealth of info. I'll be looking up your fly recommendations. Thanks

There seems to be a wide array of hook sizes being used. for bait I used #6 and #8 today for worms and mealworms. A longer hook would have been handy as quite a few perch and gills had the hook deeply installed into their dental works. The Flies I used were 6, 8 and 10.
The idea of using longer shank hooks sounds appropriate.

I noticed something today about the habit of these fish. Once hooked the Perch and Pickerel often turn and come right at the boat and I almost can't strip fast enough to keep the line tight. On the other hand Bluegill tend to run radially around the boat and they don't give up until they're boated.

I had a blast all day.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

The crappie spawn is late around here on my local lake while on a nearby lake they are staging in the shallows. They are a lot of fun on the fly rod and readily available to shore fishermen (like myself). A few days to a week of warmer weather will probably get them active. I've tied a bunch of bright patterns which are catching gills and perch in the meantime. Lots of good patterns on you tube.

 

[Baron]

Do Crappie attack different flys than Perch and Bluegill. Yesterday a fisherman caught a largish crappie on a plastic streamer with bobber. Was that a lone fish or was there also a school there with it?
When do they Spawn in the Poconos?
I had never seen a crappy and although I knew what they are they're even prettier closeup.

 

[Dave_W]

Baron wrote:
Do Crappie attack different flys than Perch and Bluegill. Yesterday a fisherman caught a largish crappie on a plastic streamer with bobber. Was that a lone fish or was there also a school there with it?
When do they Spawn in the Poconos?
I had never seen a crappy and although I knew what they are they're even prettier closeup.

You can catch crappies on the same fly as bluegills. In the spring, when I'm targeting one or the other, I often catch many of both species in the same proximity.

In general, crappies are fish eaters whereas perch and bluegills feed a lot on aquatic insects. Most bait guys that target crappies use live minnows (perch like minnows too). Anyway, I recommend small streamers for crappies - something about an inch long and black or white with some flash. I tie my crappie flies with bead chain eyes as this gives them some weight but I don't want my crappie flies to sink too fast - a slower sink works best for me. Look for crappies around flooded shoreline brush and blow downs this time of year. If you catch one, there are probably others nearby.

 

[Bamboozle]

I love fishing for panfish with both flies and BAIT and a bobber, which still is one of my favorite ways to fish PERIOD!

However, back to fly-fishing, a couple of flies that work great for me on panfish with one that has an interesting back-story:

The first is a small worm pattern that I came up with 2000 years ago to target the beasts that used to inhabit the Ditch on Big Springs after seeing a guy catch a few on what was described to me as “a small red worm found in manure”.

My thought process was just wrapping red ribbing of some type on a bare hook. My answer in the days before fancy schmancy materials was to get some horsehair from a violin bow and dye it red. Actually, Vince Marinaro told me to wash the horsehair until it became perfectly clear, (which it did) before dying it to make it translucent, (the catchphrase of the day).

So I dyed the horsehair, got some size 14 Mustad 3906 wet fly hooks, painted the hook shanks white since the horsehair was clear and I wanted it to look really red, and I just wrapped the red horsehair in touching wraps up the hook and tied it off with red thread.

I about busted until I got back to Big Springs to try out my 1000% certain fly…

…and I didn’t catch a damn trout, then or EVER on those stupid worms!!

However, pan fish LOVE them!!

Sometimes, I’ll just hold one in front of them and twitch and they will slam it or I’ll put them under a tiny indicator and let them slowly fall.

I guess if I had to make them today, I would use red Ultra Wire if I wanted a quick decent or some small clear red Wapsi Vinyl Rib, although I have lots of horsehair and red dye left… 😉

The other thing that works great for me but is hard to find is a very small, rubber legged, pencil shaped ORANGE popper. Why orange works so great for me I don’t know, but I’ve also caught some huge smallies on the same tiny poppers.

Enjoy!

 

[RLeep2]

I pretty much echo Dave's thoughts on crappie flies...

When I was a kid and we were going up to the local lake to target crappie on bait, we generally wouldn't bother going down back and seining minnows out of the creek. We'd simply take a couple of redworms with us and catch a bluegill or two, which we would then quickly filet, leaving the skin on to help retain the hook and cut into strips about an inch long by a quarter inch wide. Run a hook through the end of one of these strips and suspend it below a bobber and move it through the water column very slowly with an occasional slooooow vertical lift. The takes were subtle, but once you got the hang of it, you could catch crappie as fast as you could keep a line in the water for as long as you were over them.

I apply this same technique to fly fishing for crappie, or at least when I am exclusively targeting them. I make a very simple fly that I call a Crappie Dart. I don't do online photos, but it is simply a 1X or 2X long hook with a 1/8 silver bead at the head for a little weight, a short (2/3 shank length) marabou tail, an estaz or chenille body and a couple turns of soft hackle at the head behind the bead. That's it.. All white seems to be best, but yellow or chartreuse also works. I flip this out where I figure the crappie are and let it sink for a few seconds. A lot of the takes will come on the drop. If I don't get a take, I start moving it very very slowly back towards me pausing now and then. Creep and pause, creek and pause. It can take a bit to get used to the very gentle takes and you'll miss quite a few. But, after a while, you'll tune in and if there is a crappie around, he'll have it..

 

[Bamboozle]

We used to use shad darts with a bit of strip bait on the hook for crappies, fished exactly like you said.

It was probably another 25 years before I actually caught a SHAD on a shad dart. ;-)

Sadly, my all time favorite crappie spot has been closed to fishing for almost the same amount of time...

 

[JerryC]

JerryC why not smaller? Is that a good rule for Nymphs.

I've gotten 11 inch Rock Bass in the Little Lehigh on hot summer nights.

The ones I caught on the Jordan were more heavily striped with contrasting dark and light. Makes me wonder if they were all males sitting on the nests?

Posted on: Yesterday 10:55[/b]

Baron, I really don't fish nymphs that often for sunfish. I wouldn't have a problem fishing a size 6 PT Nymph or estaz bug for sunfish. I think folks underestimate what size fly a decent sunfish will take. This is my go to pan fish fly. Tied either on either a size 6 or 8. The one I have in front of me right now. The body is 1 inch long and with the marabou tail 2 inches long. And a couple of bluegills that liked it.

As far as rock bass go they're very tasty. I think the further north you go the bigger they get, especially in lakes. I've caught a couple in the 10 inch range. My nephew caught one in Vermont many years ago that measured 13 inches. The only sunfish around here that has a similar mouth is the green sunfish. They do like top water, especially in the evening.

 

[Baron]

Rleep2, do you add any extra weight or just the bead?

I Have been told about how soft the takes can be from perch and yesterday was my first targeted attack on perch and yes they are soft takes. Not like Gills so Crappy are the same as perch?

Do you get allot of by-catch on these flies?

Do Crappie have easily torn mouths or can you horse them in pretty quickly.

 

[Baron]

That is a scary looking spider. Gives me the creeps just looking at it. As a Hort dude I hate spiders. I know, I know that it looks like candy to Bluegills but to me its creepy.

Are you using this underwater or topwater. Yesterday the the crappy, Gills, perch and shiners were all shallow and hitting hard but a month ago none were visible.

Others mentioned Ants and Bumble bees. Are surface terrestrials strictly May forward?

I wish I knew the name of what I used yesterday as I'd like to order more of them. deadheaded bugger style, black head, chartreuse or greener body. Since I'm new to FF I find it hard to describe.

 

[Baron]

I grew up on a Farm in Bucks county and had a creek running through it. There were a few gills but mostly beautiful Green Sunfish with big mouths and sometimes orange bellies. They were built more like miniature small mouth. 7-8 inches were not uncommon. There was nothing more that that except and occasional small Largemouth that swept through from time to time. As a kid I caught the same fish time after time until there lips couldn't hold a hook anymore. I never thought I'd find myself targeting this family as a 61 year old but once I felt the power of them in open water I liked it.

 

[RLeep2]

Baron...

>>Rleep2, do you add any extra weight or just the bead?>>

Very occasionally, I'll use a small shot or add a little .015 wire to the fly body, but usually just the bead. I seem to get more hits when the descent is slower.

>>I Have been told about how soft the takes can be from perch and yesterday was my first targeted attack on perch and yes they are soft takes. Not like Gills so Crappy are the same as perch?>

Generally, the crappie take is a closer cousin to a perch than a bluegill. Pretty soft... If you watch a crappie take a fly, you'll more often see him simply stop it than attack it. There are exceptions when you are actively stripping a streamer or wooly bugger when the take will be more emphatic or abrupt. But overall pretty gentle or tentative.

>>Do you get allot of by-catch on these flies?>

Does "by-catch" mean mixed species? If so, yes, unless you are parked directly over a school of crappie and there are so many of them they beat the other fish to the fly. Bluegills are a good deal more aggressive and will more often than not beat the crappie to the fly if they are around in numbers. With the exception of dinks, I think you'll find that the number of perch you catch while fishing relatively shallow in this way for crappie/gills will diminish as the water warms. There are exceptions to this as well, though, in places with a lot of perch and fewer gills or crappie.

>>Do Crappie have easily torn mouths or can you horse them in pretty quickly. >>

Yes.. A common nickname for crappie is "paper mouth". Even played gently, you'll often lose a third or more of the ones you hook. Just part of the overall thing..

 

[JerryC]

That is a scary looking spider. Gives me the creeps just looking at it. As a Hort dude I hate spiders. I know, I know that it looks like candy to Bluegills but to me its creepy.

Are you using this underwater or topwater. Yesterday the the crappy, Gills, perch and shiners were all shallow and hitting hard but a month ago none were visible.

Others mentioned Ants and Bumble bees. Are surface terrestrials strictly May forward?

I don't like spiders myself, having been bitten by a brown recluse during my college days down south in Tennessee. I like these yellow ones though. They're the most effective color. White ones work well also.
They're designed to be a top water bug/slider, but with the shape I'll fish them them at times with an intermediate or sinking line. I've had decent luck fishing them with a sinking line for smallmouth on trips to Northern Ontario.
The water is starting to warm up, and fish are starting to get more active and moving into shallower water prior to spawning.
I'll tie some large ants but usually for trout. Bumble bees I'm still looking for a pattern I like or can tie easily. There are yellow and black striped foam cylinders you can use to tie smaller imitations, size 10
Spiders are a style of fly rather than an imitation of a spider or other insect. Terrestrials are more of a warm weather fly. You can add grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, cicadas and beetles to the list.

 

[Baron]

here is a big question!

Remember that I'm new to FF.

Yesterday I have an indicator on my spinning line which is 4lb test. two feet down was a #3+/- split shot, then a swivel and 2' of 4x tippet. I got a big big bump and the line broke at the indicator which disappeared under the water never to be seen again. I'm assuming it was a big bass as it broke at the Indicator,not the tippet, and all was lost. At least it wasn't a pickerel. It did make me think that perhaps I need to up my game and use a heavier line and also a bite tippet. The lake is full of Pickerel and they had cut me earlier in the day.
Is anyone using the flexible wire bite tippets like the ones featured on Internet sites? How would that work with FF.
I'm fishing this lake because I want to catch big pickerel as a by-catch to fishing for panfish.

 

[Baron]

Perhaps a heavier mono or floro leader and tippet would protect me from pickerel. Maybe using the wire bite tippet is overboard.
I'm not aware that Perch, Gills and Crappie are leader shy.