Check out these crappie!

[WarrenP]

Tom (doublewide on FAOL) called today and wanted to go fishing and I wanted to try out my new 7wt, so, I agreed and we went looking for either bass or walleye and ended up with 10 very nice crappie! Largest one was 16". We had a great day and I was very impressed with my new LL Bean Streamlight 7wt rod and reel combo. Tom and I have decided to try out river smallmouth fishing and from all that I read on here, the 7wt was highly recommended. I dislike any rod over 8' 6" and I also like 2 piece rods and discovered that there are very few out there in the 7wt. LL Bean had this 7wt in 2 piece and 8' 6" with their wide arbor reel prespooled with 7wt line and backing plus the cordura case that holds the rod with reel attached for $175 plus S/H. I decided to purchase it and really like it. I swear it does not weigh any more than my 5wt. One could use it all day and not be wore out. Here is a picture of the crappie Tom and I caught plus another picture of the rod/reel and crappie. Had a great day and look forward for more trips with this rod/reel.

[CO_Flyfisher]

Warren,
You are REALLY making me wish I hadn't gone back to the hotel today for sleep! That's AWESOME!!!

If I wasn't a zombie right now as it is, I would say let's hit it tomorrow morning.

Nice fish!

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Those are some DANG nice crappie. Do I hear grease sizzling in the pan?

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

Best eating fish in the world IMO. We use to get them that size around here, but it's been some years now. Nice mess of crappie!

Steve

[ohiotuber]

Warren,
Some VERY NICE crappie & a good looking new toy as well.
Thanks for the post.
Mike

[scubatim]

Warren nice lookin bunch of fish and that fishin partner of yours don't look bad either

[CoachBob]

What pattern did you use?

[Sonny Edmonds]

You know, after that second picture your new rod is going to smell like fish.

Nice catch!
And I bet it was a lot of fun, too!

[Grubb]

Thanks for taking us along on a crappie fishing trip, I haven't hooked into one of those in years... Nice looking rod reel combo to boot...

[WarrenP]

CoachBob,

When the "Dough God" was here on a visit he left me one of his "Chicago Leech" patterns and I modified it some and have caught just about all species of fish on it. Rather than use just one color of leech yarn, I used black and white. I tie mine on a #8 "hopper/caddis" style hook or any streamer style hook you have. I use a 1/8" or 3mm tungsten bead behind the hook eye, tie in one strand of white leech yarn and one strand of black leech yarn behind the bead, pull them over the top of the hook shank and palmer my black tying thread over them to the back tail tie in point, take hackle pliers and grip both yarns and twist them together just enough so they will furl together when you relax it, hold them at the tail tie in point with a length of about 3/4" for the tail length and let them furl. This makes a nice tight tail. Then I run my tying thread to the front behind the bead, unwrap the 2 leech yarns, brush them out to make them real spikey and them palmer them to the front where they will be tied off behind the beadhead. With each wrap coming forward I pull the spikey strands to the back so they are not trapped under the wraps. I bind them down real good behind the bead and do a double whip finish. That is all that is really needed, but, like all tyers, I have my quirks and after I finish the whip finish, I pick up a bobbin with red thread on it and start it over the black whip finish and build another head over the black with the red thread and do another whip finish. Give the whole fly another good brushing to make it real spikey and then use a small tube of black fabric paint and put a black dot on top of the red whip finish on each side for eyes. Cover all this with a nice coat of Sally Hansons and it is ready to fish. Remember that the red thread and eye dot are probably not needed, but, they are for this tyer only. The fish probably do not care.

Here is a picture of my pattern: