Panfish Bugs

[portlyjoe 0]

I personally like anything that has a strong contrast to it. It has been my experience that a white hackle wet or dry tends to bring up a good amount of panfish. I'm not an expert of panfish but I seem to do better when i lay out a fly near cover and strip it in an erratic manor.

[FlaFly 0]

Everything I do is in an erratic manner... I guess I should be really successful. I've reported before that I once caught a bluegill while dragging my popper behind my canoe as I paddled across the pond. Right out in the middle of the pond... no vegetation anywhere near!

[Blackwater Virgil 0]

Lots of good advice given here. FWIW, the shell crackers, or "red ears" are probably harder to get to hit artificials than bluegills or other species of bream or sunfish. That's been my experience, anyway. They can be VERY cagey at times, and as has been said above, so can bluegills. They're a lot like us humans. When they're hungry or anxious to mate, they make a lot more rash mistakes. When they're more settled and well fed, they can be as lazy as Maynard G. Krebbs, and it takes something very seductive to catch them. Funny how that works, ain't it?

[mikechell 0]

If you can tie a fly that looks like a snail, shell and all, on a 12 to 18 size hook, you just might get those finicky Red Eared Sunfish to eat it. In Florida, they aren't so hard to catch, but stomach contents are largely snails and very small clams.

This also means they are:

1) Sharp eyed ... seeing a small snail or clam in Florida tannic water is a feat, I would think.

2) Very "patient" ... if they do key in on movement, imagine how patient they must be to wait for a snail or a clam to move.

[FlaFly 0]

I've caught redears right off the nest, canoeing down the middle of the river and casting at their nests along the bank. Probably didn't matter what I threw at them... they were just attacking.

[ditz2 0]

Maynerd G Krebbs......hahaha ....You are telling your age Blackwater

 

Dobbie