Panfish Bugs

[Lotech Joe 0]

I fish a panfish lake about 9 miles from home. I've been a trout fisherman for my whole life, but now find I can't wade the rivers and trout lakes are too far away at times. So I've found myself recreating my pastime and pointing it in a new direction. Pointing it toward panfish; bass, crappie, bluegill & perch. Except for one fly, I'm having difficulty building an arsenal to use on panfish. What are your favorite flies for these fish?

 

 

[mikechell 0]

Anything you use for trout will also attract panfish. They are insect eaters, just like trout. They are usually in a school, which makes them more aggressive than trout, as they try to get to the bait before the others. The larger ones can be more selective and are as hard to catch as any trout you chased ... but the same flies will do.

Top water is a lot of fun with panfish and bass. They sometimes sip, like trout. But when there's more than one in the area, the takes can be quite explosive. So, hopper, cricket and foam body poppers can be deadly and extremely fun.

[flytire 0]

foam spiders work wonders. tie them in any color you want. I have caught all of the fish you mentioned on the spider shown below

[FlaFly 0]

I thought we just had this discussion. anyway, for surface fishing, popping bugs, foam spiders, and hoppers are all basic and good for bluegills and other bream. Foam spiders are simplest to make. For non-floaters, wooly buggers are simple and good for panfish. For bluegills/bream, bully spiders are highly regarded. For crappie, wooly buggers and small streamers (I use size 6).

 

For examples go to the database and search keywords panfish, bluegills, crappie, streamer. Of do it in Google Images.

[ihang10 0]

Panfish fly should have a tail, or legs, or both. It might float, it might not. Strip it, or don't. Foamy and/or buggy flies work most if the time but in December they were all over brassies.

 

I can't think of a fly that won't catch a pan fish.

 

Panfish aren't too picky. They've destroyed a lot of my Adams and elk hair Caddis.

[mikechell 0]

Panfish aren't too picky.

I must agree and disagree with this statement.

Agree: Small to medium sized panfish aren't too picky. But it's not a matter of them going after anything ... it's all about the race to eat something before the rest of the school gets to it.

Disagree: If you want to target larger Bluegill, Redear Sunfish or others that can top out over 2 pounds, you'll be fishing for the picky ones.

 

Those fish require better presentations. You often must put a fly right on their nose without spooking them because they stake out prime territory. They will turn away from a fly, or even live bait, if something isn't right. They are as hard to catch as any other game fish ... and harder than most, because there's usually some hungry smaller ones ready to pick up anything the dominant one doesn't.

[Chase Creek 0]

I have to agree with mikechell's comments. I'm in much the same situation: love to wade small streams for Brookies, but find my sense of balance is diminishing, which makes it hard just to get to most streams I fish, let alone wade them. So I target panfish to keep in the game.

I've had great luck with the standard Trout flies like Elk Hair Caddis, Adams, etc. I find ant patterns, and especially Stewart's Black Spider (a REALLY old pattern that dates back to mid 1850s) very effective.

[carpflyguy 0]

foam spiders work wonders. tie them in any color you want. I have caught all of the fish you mentioned on the spider shown below

 

Yup, anything with fam and rubber legs! It's way more fun too.

 

But to be honest, I guarantee I can catch a dozen sunfish in 10 minutes on any fly in my trout box. Sunfish eat anything and everything they can get ahold of. SOmetimes if I'm taking a friend fishing, we'll head down to a local pond chalk full of them. We catch them on bare hooks almost as often as we catch them on worms.

[flysmallie 0]

They like soft hackles a lot, but they like everything a lot. It will be a challenge to catch a bigger one but those smaller ones will keep you entertained on your journey.

[ditz2 0]

There are times when one can catch a sunfish on every cast. Then there are days that they seem to have lock jaw. Mostly somewhere in between. Smaller ones are easier to catch just like a trout. Actually I have read that sunfish are smarter than trout so be advised. I carry many patterns in my warm water boxes but I do have a half dozen patterns that I go to when all else fails. A small 1/4" dia popper Yellow..a yellow craft foam spider on 14 to 8 hooks. Size 10 is where I start. For a bottom bouncer I use a blind squirrel with and without bead chain. Wooly Worm with and with out bead chain. A soft hackle in various colors and mostly on #10 hooks but sometimes bigger or smaller works better. Lastly I like a McGinty bee on a 10 hook. I don't bother with wings and use a soft hackle on them. I do use many others and I am still looking for that magic pattern that will always catch any sunfish that it is presented to.....I just haven't found that pattern yet.

[mikechell 0]

I will back you all up on catching dozens in a short amount of time. You will be catching the small to medium sized bream in that body of water. You can go to any trout pond and do the same thing. If you crowd any fish in, they'll have to compete for every bit of food that comes along.

 

I will also stand by my experience ... if you want a challenge, go after the big ones.

[Kudu 0]

Check out www.warmwaterflytyer.com. One of my favorites is a size 6 stealth bomber full pimp with a squirrel nymph dropper the nymph was shown to me by forum member breambuster.

[FlaFly 0]

I kinda operate under the idea that if I use a tiny hook on my popper, I'll get large numbers of tiny bluegills... if I use a size 6 or 4, I will be more likely to get bigger ones (albeit fewer). Can't prove it but it seems sensible. To take it to the extreme, if I tie a popper on a size 2.0, I'll either get one huge bluegill, or nothing. :-)

[Stippled Popper 0]

I kinda operate under the idea that if I use a tiny hook on my popper, I'll get large numbers of tiny bluegills... if I use a size 6 or 4, I will be more likely to get bigger ones (albeit fewer). Can't prove it but it seems sensible. To take it to the extreme, if I tie a popper on a size 2.0, I'll either get one huge bluegill, or nothing. :-)

 

 

In general with Bluegills you will catch far fewer small Bluegills with larger hooks. But it doesn't guarantee

no dinks. I once caught a vey small Bluegill on a 2/0 popper. The hook went right through the top of the

head and it probably killed the poor fish instantly.

[vicrider 0]

Like many mentioned, there is a definite difference between bluegills and BULLgills. One lake we fished a lot up north had tons of sunnies and gills up to maybe hand size in the plentiful cabbage weed patches. If you went to outside of those spots that were basically on a 6' deep soft bottom and went to where it dropped off to about 10-12' and let a beadhead nymph of basically any design sink down to their level the big boys were down there. And when I say big these the kind you laid on your hand and tail covered your watch. Many times I was sure I had a bass or a walleye until I got it far enough it would start it's spinning circles trick as you pulled hard and he turned that flat side to you.