Is there a particular hook that’s best for tying foam panfish and crappie flies?
The short answer is: NO! I use standard shank length hooks for most of my bugs, but do use longer shank hooks (streamer type) for longer bodied flies, such as some of my grasshopper patterns and Chernobyl Ants. I even use a special Gamakatsu worm hook for one of my foam bass bugs.
As crappie do not normally feed on the surface, a closed-cell bug would not be expected to be successful on them. However, open-cell foam should work great, as it will sink. Hands-down, the very best ‘bream’ flies I have ever used were made from the open-cell foam “spider” bodies sold by Herter’s. You simply tied it to the hook, added a few white rubber legs,and went fishing. It was deadly!!!
I do not know of a source for such bodies today.
Frank
I have used a lot of abederdeen hooks because they were readily available and cheap. They are also strong than some would probably tell you. I have landed grass carp over 7 lbs. on No. 8 aberdeen hooks. When tying foam flies be careful not to close up the gap if you use a pattern that penetrates a layer of foam. You might want to go a size larger in those cases. This is the voice of experience.
For panfish, one option is the relatively inexpensive Dai-riki #710 (bluequillanglers.com) or the really cheap Mustad cricket hook 3261or 3261D (lurecraft.com).
I’ll add my support for the Mustad 3261 Aberdeen hooks.
Light wire, inexpensive, sharp. Perfect hook for small poppers for gills and crappie (and smaller bass).
Buddy