Crappie Flies

[Lotech]

I'm thinkin' I'm going to work on some Crappies next Spring. It's starting to get pretty cold here so that's why the next Spring idea. I have never concentrated on Crappies or Bluegills so I'm not sure what flies I should be tying. For now I'm working on colorful chenille and leggy bodies with bead heads and a little lead. Am I thinkin' right or should I go a different direction. I'll be picking up some boa yarn for some of Rick Z's boa yarn leeches.
Any help would be great.

[quivira kid]

#6 bead chain Clouser minnows in chartreuse/white, pink/white, chartreuse/pink, chartreuse/yellow, black/chartreuse....

Rick's furled mohair leech in a size 12 has caught me a lot of crappies and gills

I tried something different this summer. Picked up some #10 Matzuo sickle jig hooks and made some "fly rod crappie jigs". Built up a thread dam right at the kink in the hook to keep the bead from moving, bead, hackle fibers or marabou tail, chenille body. Simple, effective. I fish em with my glass 5wt, under a strike indicator... Just like a jig and bobber combo.

[Caribe]

Do a search on this FAOL site for Al Campbell's "Crappie Candy". He named it well and it is my favorite crappie fly.
caribe

[Uncle Jesse]

It has been several years since I have had an opportunity to target crappie but I had what I called a Chrome Bugger, white marabou tail, long shank hook with a layer of wire and wrapped with silver or silver holographic film and a grizzly or white hackle. Lots of flash, minnow like.

[James Smith]

I've enjoyed my best luck with catching crappie when using a Carter's Sculphin tied in bright colors like chartruese over white or purple and white etc. I've also caught some very nice crapping using small minnow imitations tied on a size 8 2xl hook with polar fiber usually olive over chartruese over white and 3D plastic eyes. For bluegill, redears and pumpkinseeds my all time top producer is a simple black mohair leech tied on a size 10 2XL hook. I sometimes add a red plastic bead head if the water is stained. The mohair leech is a very simple fly to tie and catches fish like crazy.

Jim Smith

[FishnDave]

My favorites (which are very similar to everyone else's) are discussed here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2010/1...-patterns.html

The keys for crappies are often bright colors (especially chartruese) or flashy (gold seems just a bit better than silver in my experience, but both are good). Also, the pattern needs good movement in the water, such as a marabou tail. Also, a slow but somewhat erratic (twitches) retrieve is almost always a winner.

In addition to the patterns listed in the blog, I've done well at times with the Myakka Minnow pattern:


And also with Ward Bean's Jointed Minnow:
(pattern here: http://www.warmwaterflytyer.com/patterns3.asp?page=32 )

[fr8dog]

I love crappie on the fly. Slew them last year on Clouser types in 4 and 6. I'm twisting up a bunch now for the spring. I go with larger sizes because of the bass, cats, and saugeyes that get mixed in. Throw them with a 7 wt in the sticks and usually manage to get some good 12-14" fish. These are just a few of the few dozen that will hit the water in a couple months. My fish pics are too large to post, but we did have some good fish fries. These ties may be ugly, but they get the job done and I don't cry when I break them off.

IMG_0013.jpg

[FishnDave]

fr8dog...nothing wrong with your Clousers...they look FINE.
I've done well with craft fur Clousers and microjigs, for crappies up to 14".

In the Spring at a local reservoir, we've done well over the years with larger jigs (with spinning gear)...like 3" Kalin's twister tails on 1/8 oz jigheads. I've been thinking similarly-sized Clousers would be a good pattern to try for these 12"-14" crappies, but the last several years have seen the reservoir flooded during the spawning period, and I haven't been able to access our usual spots from shore....so I haven't been able to try it.
Here's a picture of one of the 14" crappies, you can sort of see the jig through the side of its mouth:

[stevehaun]

Nice crappie! Makes me hungry...