Mighty Mite

[mathcarver]

I know this is a fly fishing site but I was reading about catching crappie and the writer was talking about a Mighty Mite being one hot bait for crappie. I have had no luck in finding a picture of one or pattern and thought maybe some of you might be familiar with it. Could you please help me out? Thanks in advance. mathcarver

[mickalo]

I believe this maybe what your looking for on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhQlO9Rt2t0

Mike

[Chuck S]

The crappie is known to be a sucker for a properly presented small jig, especially one with Marabou on it as a tail, etc. The reason that maribou is favored is that Ole man Crappie is a slo motion aficionado. Way back when Wapsi came out with one called the Mitey Mite and it looked like this: http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/r...f4061bb0f.html the article also gives a bit of history and talks about marabou. Since then any number of flys and jigs have taken the name in one form or another and the latest rounds seem to either involve a hellagra "mite," tied fly or naming ice fishing jigs. I've been using and have some of those original jigs somewhere amongst my crappie lures, jigs and flies and they are still great. Of late a company has been putting out a rubber tailed jig that they call the Miny Mite and again it's a good jig but not as good as some others I've found.

Moving on to using them, fish them under a light bobber, (aka strike indicator) almost motionless at the depth the fish are holding or slightly above the fish and you can fill your freezer for certain. Years back when noting the jigs success and bead head flies were becoming popular I came up with my BS Fly. A 2x long, straight eyed, size 6-10 bead head tied with marabou and Estaz. I tie in a large copper bead head (Copperhead, aka Bluegill or Sunfish, hence BS Fly) then add a dark olive marabou tail. Wind on some dark Peacock Estaz, and tie in a dark olive wing that extends back to the tail's end and tie in a pinch of orange marabou for the throat. With that fly I have taken most species of freshwater fish including the IGFA all tackle world record Tilapia and several salt water fish. It is a killer on crappie and I tie them ranging from that orange throat to more of a bright yellow and with wings that range from light olive/brown to the dark olive I favor. I've also varied the bead head from bronze to silver but copper seems best.

[Gandolf]

Hi Chuck,

Your BS fly sounds really like something I would like to try. Could you post a picture so we can see what it looks like?

Thanks and regards,

Gandolf

[Chuck S]

I really need to and just have to get one out and get the pics taken and on. Actually it will be faster to tie one and take the pics as all my fishing stuff is stored and there's several feet of snow to shovel between them and I.

[iaflyfisher]

The Mity-Mite or Springbrook Wunder Fly

The design for the Springbrook Wunder fly comes from the Mity-Mite fly that was sold by the Wapsi Fly Company from 1940 to 1980s. Tom Schmuecker of Wapsi Fly Inc. believes the original owner of Wapsi Fly, Lacey Gee, originated this fly in the 1930?s. Lacey also created another great fly "The Gimp".
Wapsi sold the fly commercially (tied by local Iowa fly tiers) from the mid 1940's to early 1980's. The originial was tied with white, yellow, black and blue tails.

mite-mite.jpg mite-mite2.jpg

The original jig hooks (flat sided) have long been out of production so Mr. Keith Wunder, an instructor at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Springbrook Conservation Education Center, updated the fly with modern materials.

Springbrok Wunder.jpg

The Springbrook Wunder, as it is now called, has been tied by thousands of students at the Ed Center and proven to be an un-paralleled fish catcher. It can be a nymph or minnow and is deadly on crappies and other panfish. Materials - Hook: 1/80th or 1/100th oz #10 lead-head jig hook Thread: Red or orange 6/0 Body: Silver tinsel chenille Tail: Grizzly marabou or other color

This fly can easily be tied with any colored tail or body material. A popular combination for crappie is a red body and charttreuse taill. The originial Mity-Mite used fluorescent orange thread in the tie but we now use red thread to imitate gills of prey.

The legacy of Lacey Gee lives on in the Gimp and the Springbrook Wunder.

[FishnDave]

Either under an indicator, or slowly swimming, I can attest that these catch a lot of fish. Works on a variety of species, including trout. It is definitely VERY high amongst my top 3 crappie producers. The other two would be a chartreuse beadchain-eye craft fur Clouser and a yellow Boa Yarn Leech.
My favorite colors include versions with gold tinsel chenille body, or a dark olive ice chenille or estaz. Both with the grizzly marabou like the Springbrook Wunder.

I often just call it a microjig since it is tied on a tiny jighead, but on Ward Bean's Warmwater Fly Tyer website, his "microjig" also has rubber legs, which I omit.

[Buddy Sanders]

I'll echo what Dave said about the fish catching ability of these little jigs.

For those of you that want to try it but don't want to buy premade jig heads, you can do this several different ways.

Many of the big box sporting goods stores (BassPro, Cabelas, Sportsmans) sell jig hooks. They are not expensive. All you need to do is buy a box of hooks in the size you want (6 to 10 are good starting sizes, remember that the bend in hook shnk shortens the hook). Slide a bead onto the hook and let it rest at the bend. Instant jig head. You can use brass or tungsten single beads, glass beads, or even bead chain and lead or brass dumbbells.

If you don't want to buy jig hooks and already have, or can get, aberdeen hooks, you can bend your own.

Nice thing about the 90 degree bend in the hooks. When fishing under an indicator, it keeps your fly horizontal in the water column. This makes it look more realistic and aids in hooking the fish in the top of the mouth too.

For those that need jig hooks, Hagens (www.hagensfish.com) sells them for a very good price.

Buddy

[Chuck S]

Take these fly\ies, tie them with the colors and materials I indicated add a large copper bead at the head and yo have my BS Fly. http://flytyingclub.org/wet/marabou-miss I didn't copy these flies but rather was copying a crappie jig of my wives that was kicking all of our behinds. Take any one, put that big copper bead on first, add a dark olive wing and tail of marabou and a pinch of orange or yellow marabou for a throat, with a dark peacock Estaz body and you have it. I'm still working on getting a pic posted of my fly.

[sandfly]

I like these for ole crappie;
3-27-2011 crappie flys 004.jpg4-29-2011 022.jpg4-29-2011 jelly jigs.jpg