Micky Finns for crappie/pans?

[Druce 0]

does anyone use super small micky finn style streamers for pan fish and crappie, lets say size 10 and down streamer hooks? if so id love some advice on tackling larger pan fish and crappie on bait fish style fly's.

 

Cheers

 

Druce

[getholdofjoru 0]

I've tried using bucktail streamers in the smaller sizes for panfish but have never had any luck with them.

 

Marabou seems to work much better, especially as a tailing material.

 

Good luck!

[gpd4 0]

I made some little Thunder Creeks (10s, I think) and they've worked pretty well...

[Fred H. 0]

Research Tom Nixon fly patterns. Tom was a northern transplant to southern La. Where he developed dozens of patterns that were adapted from trout flies such as the Mickey Finn and were very effective on crappie and gills.

Fred

[JSzymczyk 0]

absolutely. and #10 is not "super small" ... I've caught some real nice panfish on #6 bucktails. They work.

[troutguy 0]

I've had success with Micky Finns and Thunder Creek also small clousers. I have tied a modified Micky Finn in "fire tiger" colors. Small works real well if you are at the right depth and there are fish. I think 10 is too hard for them to see at much distance if you have cloudy water.

[DevinKaradeema 0]

oh ya!! crappie go nuts for them streamers i've used 8s down to 20s 20s cuz i felt like tying em that small but hell ya they work.

 

I only go small when i know where the school of pan fish are (sight fishin)

crappie i stay in the 8 to 16 range and hit em broad side if i know where they are holding

[fishabuoy 0]

Crappies are suckers for Chart/White Clousers...absolutely tie some up! Mine are usually #8-10, weighted lightly, and tied sparse, but I tie them in all sizes, weights and dressings and they flat out work. I catch a fair number of LM with those too. The gills where I fish will hit anything, including a bare hook....so it's kinda a chicken and egg thing with them....bless their little hearts

 

BobV

 

PS - as suggested by an earlier poster....Tom Nixon's patterns are very very effective...some of my best panfish/bass flies in my warmwater box are his patterns or variations of. My all time best warmwater fly is a "Gill-Getter" variation I tie. I never fish for panfish without them!

[Mickalo 0]

never tried using a micky finn pattern for crappies/gills, but they're a great baitfish pattern. Like BobV mentioned the Gill-Getter is really winner here in my neck in the woods. I've caught a bunch of panfish with them and a few SM's.

 

Another great pattern is Al Campbells Crappie Candy, this was the fly I used when I caught my first Crappie with a fly rod.

 

Mike

[TheCream 0]

Ahhhh, a topic near and dear to my heart. I catch some huge crappies on streamers every sprng in the local lakes around me, and last year, even in the local Ohio River trib in some of the back eddy's. Two main patterns claim most of my big crappies: a downsized streamer pattern I saw in a Feather-Craft catalog called the "Bassmaster" and a #6 Clouser tied with coyote tail for the top wing. Why coyote, honestly, I don't know, but I tried it this spring and it outfished standard bucktail Clousers and marabou Clousers. The "Bassmaster" is easy to tie and very effective, I used it on a #8 3X long streamer hook. Pattern is as follows:

 

-Tail: rabbit strip

-Flash: Flashabou

-Body: ice chenille or similar substitute

-Eyes: small brass dumbbell (tied to the back of the shank like a Clouser)

-Throat: 2 strands of rubber skirt material (fold over thread and tie in at head, trim to length of tail)

 

White, olive, grizzly, and a grizzly/pink ice chenille mix all produced well. The Coyote Clouser is pretty much standard to the original Clouser, just sub in some coyote:

 

-Eyes: brass dumbbell

-Bottom: white bucktail

-Flash: copper Flashabou

-Top: Coyote tail hair

 

Trophy citation size in Ohio is 13", and fish over 10" is considered big for my area. I caught 11 citation fish this spring, the biggest being a hair over 16" long, on the coyote Clouser. On a 5wt, that fish was a handfull!

 

 

[Mickalo 0]

That bassmaster looks like a great fly to tie. found a video on youtube on it this morning. may have to try that one.

 

Mike

[TheCream 0]

That bassmaster looks like a great fly to tie. found a video on youtube on it this morning. may have to try that one.

 

Mike

 

Was it this one by any chance?

 

If so, I did that one. I think I did that one on a #10 for the video, I bumped it to a #8 later on. This was also one of my first videos, it was not great.

[Mickalo 0]

That bassmaster looks like a great fly to tie. found a video on youtube on it this morning. may have to try that one.

 

Mike

 

Was it this one by any chance?

 

If so, I did that one. I think I did that one on a #10 for the video, I bumped it to a #8 later on. This was also one of my first videos, it was not great.

 

Yep that's the one. Really enjoyed the music. The main thing I look for, when view tying videos' is the materials used are listed.

 

Mike