Feather wing streamers are lovely things to look at, and certainly classical patterns. I have tied a few, and was quite pleased with how they turned out. They are also a hoot to tie.
However, I have never tried them on Gills or crappie, preferring bucktails or marabou streamers, and even some tied with synthetics such as the hot flash minnow. I like the movement of the ones I use and haven’t felt that I got the same movement from the feather wing streamers.
Do any of you fish feather wing streamers for Gills and crappies, and what has worked for you? How do you fish them, and do you get good movement with them somehow?
I may be wrong, but I believe the first Grey Ghost was tied specifically for Crappie fishing ;). It’s certainly effective enough on Crappies.
I’ve tied lots of little feather wing streamers for 'gills. Usually downsized versions of classic style bass streamers, primarilly because I like to tie them, they are pretty, and fun to fish. They worked quite well.
I don’t know about the whole ‘movement’ thing, though. My 'gills don’t seem too particular about it, and crappie mostly like anything that looks like a minnow.
It is effective for Crappie but as I understand it the Grey Ghost Streamer was originated by Carrie Stevens for Big Brookies and Landlocked Salmon in Maine around 1924. Since then many flies, poppers and jigs have come along that imitate the coloring and sometimes steal the name. Especially a Gray Ghost Jig that been around for awhile and is a super popular Crappie jig although some jiggers refer to them as flies. Of course fly fishing was around for a long time before Carrie Stevens came along with her famous flies and for sure it may have been a crappie fly originally but I’ve never seen anything mentioned along those lines in the historical books on flies. A couple other traditional streamers that work are the Black Nosed Dace and the Nine Three. Crappies have a big mouth and those streamers slim down in the water so they hit them quite well at times, especially when they are chasing minnows rahter than sitting on or near nests as then they like it slow and maribou rules. Another one I like is one called the Warden’s Worry and along with it any of the Muddlers in smaller sizes.
According to Richard Talleur in “Mastering the Art of Fly-tying”, the Gray Ghost was a Carrie Stevens pattern she first tied on July 1, 1924. She tied it for trout, and that very same day caught a 6 lbs 13 oz brook trout on her first version, which she intered in the yearly Field and Steam contest, winning second place. Thus, a trout pattern, first tied in 1924.
I FINALLY tried out a Teal Blue Silver last night. The crappies and bluegills BOTH loved it! I forgot my camera (again), so I didn’t get to take any pictures with the fly in the fishs’ mouths… but here’s a picture of the fly:
The one I used last night was tied on a #8 3xl streamer hook.
I figured out most of the fly, but to be sure - what is the wing material? I bet with different throat colors that would be a good catcher for other fish.
Reaallly nice tie.
Mike
Its a Teal Blue Silver. The wing is Teal. I think you could easily substitute Gadwall flank. For a lighter colored, less barred version, you could use Mallard flank.
I agree…I think you could try all kinds of colors for the throat. Red or orange or yellow or chartreuse…even something dark like black or purple. I think it would look really good with ANY of those colors.
I’m fishing it with a floating line. The crappies are shallow right now (at least in a few of the waters I’m fishing)…some males are guarding nests, and in the evenings the other males and females are suspended within a few feet of the surface over open water.
I’m sure a sinking or sink-tip line would work well when the crappies drop back into deeper water during the summer.
