Panfish Flies

[17jamato 0]

Im 13 and have been steelhead fishing in Ohio for several years and currently tie marabou jigs. I recently bought a fly rod and want to start tying my own flies. What would be a basic list of materials to buy for tying panfish flies?

[mikechell 0]

If you are looking for less expensive options, I recommend a trip to a dollar store. Buy some flip-flops of your favorite colors, a few bottles of nail polish (white and black for eyes, at least) and a duster. When I am fishing topwater for sunfish, that's what my poppers are made from.

If you want legs, and don't have rubber legs, buy some cheap underwear and get the white rubber strips from the waist band.

 

If you are looking for more traditional materials, there's way too many choices for s short list. Go to the SBS threads, or the Warmwater Species threads and you'll find plenty of patterns with full recipes for all kinds of top water and sinking bluegill flies.

[utyer 0]

A couple of bucks for a sheet or two of foam at the craft store, and many bungie cords are full of rubber legs. Whip up some foam spiders. Black, yellow, orand and olive foam. Black and white legs.

[Sur3-Shot 0]

Walmarts Craft section can yeild some inexpensive matterials. If anything you make in the futur uses dubbing i like to strip pipe cleaners and mix it with hair fibers makes a nice dub.

[joman 0]

as well the pipe cleaners make excellent chenille if you want to get your flies down fast

[brhitch 0]

I started by tying the Bully's Bluegill Spider. I also picked up some 49 cent sheets of craft foam at Walmart and tied some foam spiders. Total cost was less than $20 and I have plenty of materials to tie lots of flies.

[famill00 0]

I have a bazillion different bluegill flies in my box. I always tie on a Bully Bluegill Spider first, then a foam spider, then a popper. If I don't catch anything I might as well go home. Welcome to the world of tying!

 

-Forrest

[streamcaddis 0]

I use a 9ft 4wt rod for all my pan fishing. I use foam flies, hoppers, wooly buggers, spiders and a few trout flies . When I hook onto a 10 inch gill the fight is on. I get most of my marerials from Hobby Looby, Walmart, and Micheals (sp).There is nothing better for dinner then a plate of Blue Gills and potato's!.

[ditz2 0]

I use craft foam for floating yellow spiders on 10 hooks. Yellow 1/4" dia. poppers made from 3 paper hole punch disks glued together with CV on 12 hooks. Blind Squirrels on 10 hooks. I actually use hook sizes from 14 to 8 but listed the most common I use. A size 10 McGinty soft hackle is also a great gill getter.

 

I carry lots of others but in reality these 4 could cover all of my small stream fishing but it would not be as much fun as having 3 boxes full of flies to pick from.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

This one is hard to beat.

 

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=60939#entry536805

 

Kirk

[famill00 0]

So, how about some pics of those flies you have tied up????

 

-Forrest

[tidewaterfly 0]

as well the pipe cleaners make excellent chenille if you want to get your flies down fast

 

I used pipe cleaners when I was a kid, and they work fine, but the wire centers rust very quickly once they get wet. Fly tying chenille is not expensive. Regular chenille yarn, found in craft/sewing shops or any place that sells yarns is a good, cheap alternative. It's not as dense as fly tying chenille, but still makes a decent body and a hank is a lot of chenille. I purchased some hanks several years ago in color shades not normally found with fly tying chenille. Makes some very interesting panfish flies. It's also made with various fibers. I prefer rayon, but nylon or even cotton can have some uses.

 

There is a very simple fly pattern that I've tied for many years that works well for panfish. Much of the materials involved can be found in crafts or sewing shops. I tie it with a tail of rabbit hair, but marabou or any soft fiber can be used. The body is chenille, there is a sparse soft hackle collar & bead chain or plastic bead chain eyes are added. All black has been my most used color, but it can be tied in any color you like. Use any hook you like too. Occasionally, I'll add a short wing of pearl Krystal Flash. I've tied it as small as a 14 & as large as a size 6. Think of it as a mini version of the Boss Steelhead fly.