Crappie flies

[Guest]

Most of the creeks here in Central Ky have a well kept secret....Crappies. I have caught them in the spring, summer, and fall on everything from buggers to nymphs to poppers...One of my favorite patterns for these slabs is a simple mylar bodied fly with a white or yellow zonker for a fin....Anyone else have a preference for these great panfish?

[Dble Haul 0]

Yes, I call it a Pink Moody....I'll be getting it into the database soon enough.

 

My wife loves to fish for crappie. They're eager biters, and she has no qualms about lipping them and unhooking them herself. Can't ask for too much more than that!

[Guest]

shoot no!!! if she leaves you, call me and tell me where she...uh, I mean, call me and I'll listen....

[Guest]

BDH, here's one of my favorite crappie flies!

Simple & effective!

 

[Guest]

nice, and functional....seems like the simpler the better....it's like they don't want anything fancy...just fishy....

 

 

Hey, Billy, what are your favs...I know you hook up with 'em on the longrod!!

[Guest]

Crappie rock! I've gotten quite a few on Zug Bugs.

[Philly 0]

I've got a couple that I use for panfish in general but crappie seem to like them.

A fly I call an Estaz Bug works real good. Fairly simple pattern.

Tail: Marabou over about 10 to 15 strands of crystal flash

Weight: 6 or 7 wraps of lead wire in center of shank

Body: Estaz wrap around shank, then trimmed short. Creates a grub shaped body.

Pearl/white, chartreuse/charteuse are the most productive colors.

A small Crease style fly about 1 1/2 inches long.

Light blue/silver MOP, Light Green/silver MOP, Chartreuse/Silver MOP and Bronze/Silver MOP

A Polar Fiber or Fuzzy Fiber minnow 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. Same colors as the Crease style fly/white.

 

 

[Guest]

I've done well on olive Matukas. The dumbell eyes get 'em down fast and give it a nice swimming motion on the retrieve.

 

Mike

 

 

[Guest]

In the late spring on a particuliar creek close to the house, we kill them will white poppers fished around timber and stick ups...must be the injured baitfish thing.....nice fighting fish, especially when you hook up in moving water...

[MIKE*A 0]

I haven't done much crappie fishing in recent years, but the first fly I learned to tie (25 years ago....wow) turned out to be a crappie killer for me back then. It was called the "Little Skunk" for reasons soon to be obvious. It was generally tied on a size 8-12 hook with a black chenille body and a piece of white polypropylene tied on at the tail. The original recipe called for the tail to be as long as the hook gap was wide. the remainder of the polypro was pulled over the back and tied off at the head. You can whip a dozen of them off in no time. Over the years, I have used the same pattern with some color variations. Most recently, I began tying them in all white or silver to simulate the small shad hatchlings in the nearby rivers in the Spring......the Smallies and Rock Bass gorge themselves on them.......they are very simple/quick to tie which is good, because i lose a lot of them in the rivers with all the brush etc. My (then) 7 year old daughter began tying some of these last spring. I think they looked better than mine....... I think I've even tied some with bead heads and pull chain eyes.

[Guest]

gonna have give that one a try!!

[Guest]

My bet crappie fly is the Carter's Dragon, tied in either all black or the normal outragous colors of crappie jigs; chartreuse and white, pink and white etc. The receipe goes like this:

 

Carter’s Dragon

 

Hook: 1X long hook size 6 to 12 (take your pick)

Thread: Black 6/0

Tail: Small bunch of black rabbit fur – 2 pieces of silver Krystal Flash on each side

Body: Black chenille or mohair yarn

Collar: Hackel, either black, grizzly, olive or silver badger

Beard: Black Krystal Flash

Eye: Black or silver dumbbell eyes

 

 

Fairly straightforward fly to tie. Tie in a bunch of black rabbit fur for the tail. Add two pieces of Krystal flash on each side of the tail for some flash. Tie in the chenille and wrap the thread to the eye of the hook. Tie in the dumbbell eyes. Wrap the chenille up to the eyes and tie off. Clip excess chenille. Tie in a hackle feather by it’s tip. Make two wraps for the collar, tie off and clip excess. Tie in a small bunch of black Krystal Flash on the under side of the hook. The Krystal flash should reach to the end of the hook.

 

Fish this pattern by letting it sink for about 10 seconds. Then make very quick 3-6” strips with a two second pause between strips. This is an excellent winter bluegill fly, but hold on, because bass and crappie find it equally irresistible.

 

 

Jim Smith

 

[Sippy 0]

This spring, I was trout fishing at a local creek and stopped by at a nice lake to check it out on the way home. The crappie were in shallow and there were tons of them. I figured what the heck, I might as well keep fishing. They were all over a bead head pheasant tail. It was a riot.

 

You guys have posted a lot of flies I'm going to have to tie and try out for crappie.

[Guest]

have caught several on a bead head hare's ear....they loved it....tried the same fly a few weeks later with no luck....must have moved on to bigger prey by then....keep us posted and let us know if you hit into the big slabs, girl!

[Sippy 0]

Same thing happened to me Big Daddy. I went back a few days later and they showed no interest in the pheasant tail. It will be nice to try some of these other flies posted when the flie of the moment is not working.

 

I am going to tie a bunch of flies for gills and crappie through the ice for this winter. I read about it last year on MS and I tied some waxies and they worked great.