I just started fly fishing a couple of months ago, and after spending some time on some of the local trout streams, I finally got a chance to try some lake fishing. We (that is my wife, kids, and I) spent the weekend at my Dad's cottage. Growing up, I had fished the lake a lot, spin rods, jigs, lures, whatever we though might work. Never did catch much but some smallmouth bass and perch. Pulled out my fly rod and walked to the dock, caught more bass from that lake in one hour than in the past 20 years, both small- and largemouth bass (I know, weird lake). Managed to catch a couple of sunfish too, never had caught them from that lake ever. I think I really am starting to like pan fish fishing.... (panfishing? is that the right term?).

After trying some ant imitations, then some basic bivisibles, then some nymphs... I ended up using a really bad version of a Muddler's Minnow I had in my fly box. It was only a head of deer hair, with a badly formed deer hair wing. It was my first attempt at spinning hair just to see how hard it was. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I do need some practice. Anyhow, after that started producing, I kept that same fly on for the next three days. Used it more or less like a popper, gurgling it with short jerks, then letting it rest. Man was that fun.

Anyhow, now I've got some questions. I started reading the panfishing articles here on FAOL, and it seems that most people still use nymphing for most of their fishing. I can't seem to get that to work. If I stuck with a popper style, am I missing out on a lot? Or can I just work on my presentation and get it to work for me?

What are some of your favorite popper patterns?

What types of retrieves work best? How much should I retrieve before recasting?

Just wondering,

Dave