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 )

[tall]

I think my number one crappie fly has been a small (size black over chartruese Clouser with a little holo silver flash thrown in. As you can see above, it's a good color combination. I also have better hook-ups with the Clousers since the hook is inverted. Fish enough crappies and you quickly realize how soft particularly the bottom of the mouth is (why they are sometimes called Papermouths), but the top of the mouth will give you a better hook-up. With the hook point up, the clouser does that.

Tall

[iaflyfisher]

One of my favorites is called the Springbrook Wunder or an updated version of Wapi's Mite-Mite. They are tied on 1/80th oz jigs.

Silver and grizzly work well as does a red body and chartruse tail.

Springbrook Wunder.JPG SBW-Red-chart.jpg

iaflyfisher

[tailingloop]

I have caught crappie on flies ranging from size 18 dries and nymphs to size 2 Dahlberg Divers and 5 inch long Lefty's Deceivers. We have some big crappie around here. Plenty of small ones too. It seems they will try to eat almost anything when in the mood. Most of the time when intentionally targeting crappieI use simple flies tied on Wapsi 1/80th oz fly rod jigs like iaflyfishing posted. No more than two materials usually. Marabou tail and a body made from chenille, come type of shiny braid, peacock herl, ostrich herl, or some type of dubbing spun in a dubbing loop. I carry these jig flies in a selection of colors and shades ranging from all black, to all pearl flash material, including browns, olives, reds, and yellows.

Topwater crappie are a lot of fun if you can find a situation where that works. That happens in the summer here on some lakes when crappie start chasing schools of bluegill or bass fry or shad. A small crease fly or Gartside Gurgler does the trick, as well as small pencil poppers. I tie small crease flies on Tiemco 200R hook in sizes 6 through 10. I don't even bother to color them or coat them with epoxy. Just white foam and a sparse craft fur tail.

I have also caught crappie on bluegill size poppers and foam bugs around weed beds.

We have 2+lb crappie in some of our local lakes with some around the 4lb mark and they eat big flies I'm casting for bass but I don't target crappie with big flies intentionally.

[mickmcco]

I lived for three years on a catch and release lake in northern Illinois that had been stocked with crappie. By the time we moved there, the crappie were overpopulated, so none of them grew very big, but they provided lots of angling enjoyment. Over the course of those three years, the fly that produced the most crappie was a white and grizzly woolly bugger, size 10 -- silver hook (TMC 9394), white marabou tail, white chenille body, grizzly hackle, silver beadhead. But the fly that was the most fun to catch them on was a size 10 or 12 Brown Drake Comparadun. They LOVED that fly just at dusk, on top.