My latest post was about the price of fuel slowing down ( seemingly to a crawl) my pursiut of trout.
Now that I am done (maybe) whyyynning about not getting to trout fish as often as I would like here’s another angle.
I have all of this fly fishing and tying stuff and surely want to use it. Warm water seems to be my newest and most readilly available pursuit.
Sadly I am not the sharpest tack in the box.
To wit , I am once again without a clue.
What to use for flies and what strategies on warm water quarry i.e the noble blue gill or majestic bass and of course the much misunderstood crappie.
Seriously , I have fished all of those and all the other fish of the midwest and am a pretty good hand at it with a spinning rig or bait caster , I have given those methods up for the fly rod . I dont figure on going backwards at this point in time .
Sure would appreciate if I could get a few heads up on where to find articles to look at for teqniques and fly patterns to use . I prefer top water but have no allusions about the learning curve from going sub surface to top water and am not bothered to start out slow and figure out what s going on .
Thanks for any info that comes my way
The almighty wooley bugger is a great start. Put some chainbead eyes on it and you have a huge hit.
Anything with legs on it will get bluegill to hit. Also beadhaed nymphs are big with the bluegill.
Make your fly look like a minnow or an insect falling and dropping into the water and you have a good warm water fly.
There is nothing too mysterious about warm water fly fishing.
My top two bluegill fies are an all black leech tied on a size 10 hook with a red beadhead and the cap spider also tied in black. Either one will consistently catch bluegill and redear sunfish with the occasional bass thrown in for exitement. The black leech tied on a size 6 or 4 hook is a terrific bass fly as is the Polar Fiber minnow. For crappie, my top producer is Carter’s Sculpin tied in bright colors such as red and white or purple and white.
Jim Smith
Perch,
Welcome to the warm water world. Once you start…you may never go back to “just trout”. Assuming you can find water that contains fish, this forum will be full of ideas on how to catch them. If you like the surface it’s hard to beat a simple popper. Blue gill love them and the occational bass. I am partial to foam tied flies. Blue gill and bass can really tear up those “delicate” trout tied feathers. If you find some fish…its hard to go wrong. Experiment on your own and I’m sure your fishing instincts will lead you. To quote one member on this forum " there is no substitute for time on the water". Enjoy
Try starting right here with Rick’s articles. Link below to the archive.
There are LOADS of great panfish articles in the archives. For surface flies, I like yellow gurglers, black foam beetles, small sneaky petes, & white foam spiders. For wets, try yellow woolly worms, red butt epoxy ants, & soft hackles. Keep movement to a minimum…most often, just enough to softly “twitch” the legs or hackle.
Mike
While the pan fish and bass spring to mind for many. I would like to introduce you to the next generation of fly fishing targets. Please remember that once bonefish were considered trash fish and no one would ever fish for them on purpose.
http://www.rockymtnfly.com/features/case_for_carp.aspx
http://flyfisherman.com/midwest/dwcarp/index.html
http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/techniques/matthews_carp.aspx
Most of your trout patterns will work for bream. I prefer them a bit bigger, 10 or 12, to make it harder for 'gills to swallow them whole. I’ll even go up to an 8 for the bigger 'gills, especially with sparser patterns.
Dark day - dark fly, and bright day, bright fly can carry over for sunnies as well as for trout.
One of my best 'gill flies is a woolly bugger tied with olive green, mohair yarn, long and soft yellow hackle, and a chartreuse, krystal chenille tail tied as a small loop parallel to the water. (Think beaver tail.) The chartreuese loop seems to draw strikes towards the hook, just where I want them.
I like barbless or de-barbed hooks. I like to tie parachute dries for 'gills. I tend to use synthetics for the posts. I also tend to loop the post under the shank of the hook and still tie it in very well. That helps to keep 'gills from swallowing the fly all the way to its vent. It also means that I can generally release fish caught on those flies by grabbing the post and slipping the hook out. It makes releasing 'gills a ton easier.
Slow movement (retrieves) tends to be better, but that rule is subject to modification by the fish.
In trout fishing, “current is structure” may apply. In panfishing, structure is structure. Current is generally not fished, unless if it very mild. Calm pockets in the middle of current can yield well, however.
Bigger 'gills are usually beneath the small fry where the water is deep enough.
I think that local 'gills strike faster than stocker trout. It helps to put you on your game for those days when you DO get out after trout.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. That might be the nicest thing about chasing bream. There are so many opportunities to practice.
Good luck.
Ed
perch,
If you really want to have some fun with bluegill/bass, go to the main page and in the search window type in, “Sam’s One Bug” and click enter. Very easy popper to tie and, evidently, not used by many, but, it is a fantastic popper and a lot of fun to use. I have caught 100’s of bluegill with it plus a few bass every now and then.
Just a suggestion for a good popper…
Hi Perch!
For warmwater fishing you only need to know two words. Gurgle Pop! Pete Fraily’s lure is found in the FOTW archives and is almost as good as a worm or minnow for brim and LMB. Pete swears by a #8 yellow GP. I like them a little smaller in sizes #10-#12. Yellow is a good color but chartruese, white and black are also good. Hang a nymph on an 18" dropper in sizes #12-#16 and you’ve got a fish-filled day. I’ve been using Brassies for the dropper but I don’t think you could go wrong with any standard trout nymph. Try Gurgle Pops, effective, easy to tie, durable and CHEAP, you’ll like 'um! 8T 
Perch,
I’ve been fly-fishing for bluegills quite a lot for the past 2 seasons. I’m still learning, but certainly have some “favorite flies”.
As has been mentioned, you can’t go wrong with a size 10 or size 8 woolly bugger. Experiment with regular hackle, soft hackle, and no hackle. A variety of colors work, some days certain colors work better than others. One bit of advice I’d give on these, is to keep the marabou tail short…extending back behind the hook about the same length as the hook gap. This will give you more hook-ups and fewer short-bites.
Also…fish slow. As slow as you can get away with, and still keep your fly at the right depth.
In the evenings especially, or anytime you find bluegills sitting on nests, foam topwater flies work great. The Gurgle Pop that was mentioned above is a great example of a good bluegill topwater fly.
The Cap Spider…ok, obviously the guys that have already responded KNOW what they are talking about, because I’m listing the same flies they are! ;o)
I would also add Rick Z’s boa yarn leech. Without or with weight…I’ve been using it a fair bit lately, and have been doing really well on crappies, bluegills, and bass! Yellow seems to be an especially good color for me.
For bass, you can use the same types of flies that you use for bluegills, and will get even more attention if you UPSIZE them.
Crappies…I’ve caught a number on the boa yarn leeches, white woolly buggers, and minnow flies tied using pearl mylar tubing w/ white marabou tail.
Perch,
Was fishing a small pond many years ago mostly concentrating on some really nice largemouth bass when I saw a fly hanging in the pond side willows. Decided to retrieve the fly and it turned out to be a simple red and white fly and looked to be hanging there for a long time as it’s colors looked sun bleached and very dull. Decided to tie it on just to see what happened. MAN - it was like the dinner bell had rung for every crappie in the pond! Every time I tossed it in it wouldn’t sink more then a few inches before hordes of crappie would come streaming out of the depths and fighting over who was getting there first. Had to quit a couple of times to rest my arms from pulling them in and releasing them. Wasn’t a fly fisherman at the time and have no idea what the fly was supposed to be. All I know is it was a killer for those crappie.
Other than nymphing more when I fish for Trout, the differences are not that great. Yes, the flies are usually larger, but I have caught Smallies and Carp on sizes 10 and 12. I never fish smaller than a 14 cause I can’t see the fly. The fish still face upstream while waiting for food.
If you know about Gallop’s streamer method, that works great. I was actually fishing that way last night. A run about 40’ wide and 60’ long - just casting out and retrieving with shaort pulls and landed 5 SM.
I would recommend Gummy Minnows, Mallard Flank Minnow, Craw patterns and, of course, the mighty Bugger. For panfish, I just streamer fish using a Lil Bugger or slowly work a Cap Spider. Also, check out Orvis’ new Medusa.
Watch out for Clay - he’s a Carp addict. Unfortunately, so am I. I still love SM the most, but Carp are the greatest challenge I have found in warmwater. If you have ever hooked a rampaging Steelhead or Bonefish, then you will have an idea of what Carping is all about. Carp eat all of those nymphy kinds of things.
Panfish on a fly rod are a horrible HORRIBLE HORRIBLE addiction! Yellow gurglers and black beetles have been good to me for topwater so far. For a baitfish fly, I’d look at the Crappie Candy, and no farther. I’ve caught tons of bluegills and crappie on it so far this summer.
Boa yarn leeches have caught a few, and a new fly I started tying last night is going to be dynamite on 'em. Curved nymph hook size 8, orange hot bead head, marabou tail, simiseal dubbing picked out good and “buggy” for the body. Try it!
I’d also check out Ward Bean’s marabou damsel nymph pattern.
Topwater is fun… but getting them to hit below the surface is just as fun, if not more.
I’m still a rookie at all this… but I’ve found a slow-sinking fly to be more effective because you can work it slower and give them longer to check it out. For me, working good-looking shoreline and weed edges around sunset until I can’t see the fly hit the water any more has been when I’ve gotten the most action.
The only thing I’d recommend is a canoe, small boat, or at least a float tube… to take full
advantage of warm-water.
Perch,
I often fish a dropper tied on to the hook of a popper. Depth below the popper will be dictated by the fish but I usually start 14 to 16 inches below the popper. Bead head hare’s ears and pheasant tail nymphs usually produce well for me.
Good luck,
Tom
Not much of a learning curve here. Compared to trout, most warm-water species are easy and cooperative…most of the time.
LG Bass and bluegills have similar habits and occupy similar habitats. Look for them along shady shorelines and around cover and structure. These are mostly slow-water fish, so you don’t run across them much in flowing streams. Use topwater poppers, minnow, frog, insect or crustacean patterns, or sub-surface patterns. The main difference in the flies is the size. For Bass, the larger the better to a certain degree. For bluegills, go small.
For SM Bass, they like moving streams, but can be caught in lakes as well. They like much cleaner water than LB Bass and bluegills. Other than that, the same rules of structure apply. Smallies are especially fond of crawfish patterns, so wooley buggers are a good place to start. They are also partial to Clouser Minnows and hellgramite patterns.
Crappie are seasonal migratratory, schooling fish. You need a boat, depth finder and a lot of species specific knowledge to catch them consistently all year. When they are biting, they readily attack minnow fly patterns. Small Clousers are especially effective. The best time for fly-fishing for crappie is during the spring spawn run, in Mar-May. Look for them in very shallow flats in coves, inlets and other nearby structure.
Stripers, Hybrids, Yellow, and White (Sand) Bass are a blast on fly gear. Any pattern that resembles a shad will fill a stringer, when you find them. The difference is the size fly and gear you use. For stripers, use heavy gear and large flies. For the others, drop to a 6 wt. Look for them in large schools off of shoals, ripraps, coves, points, inlets and creek channels. They are also found in large numbers below tailraces. They can often be seen tearing up the surface of the water as they decimate schools of shad. Look for circling flocks of gulls and other birds, and usually you will find the fish schools underneath them. Any pattern that resembles a shad will work, but they can be size-conscious, so try to match the size to the baitfish they are feeding on.
For a real thrill, try your hand at what I refer to as fresh-water tarpon…the ubiquitous carp! There is no other fresh-water fish that will test your skills, tackle and nerves than the various species of carp. They grow very large…20+ pounders are common. They fight like a tarpon, with numerous leaps and fast, strong runs. There are plenty of them, and they are everywhere! The best way to get carp is to fish for them just like you would bonefish, permit and snook…by sighting and stalking them. You can find carp in shallows ‘tailing’, and foraging for food. Approach them quietly, as they spook easily, and gently land a fly in front of them. When they bite…HANG ON! Good patterns are the Clouser Swimming Nympth, and patterns that resemble nympths, cotton seeds, berries and small crustaceans.
Even catfish can be caught on a fly rod. I usually fish for them behind tailraces, with a Glo-Bug dipped in Catfish Smelly Jelly, or other scent. Just cast up stream and follow the drift. Set the hook on any strange line movement.
This is pretty basic, but I hope it helps.
Good Luck.
Perch
Check the Warmwater and Panfish feature archives here at FAOL for articles by Joe Hyde. Joe’s articles are about fishing around the KC area. There seems to be a lot of good fishing water around KC that is accessable by canoe.
Greg
Perch-
You’ve got some great suggestions. They’re generally not too picky, so you should have a blast, and since you’ve fished for them with other gear, you’ll know where to find them.
It sounds like maybe you don’t tie… yet…, so here’s a few suggestions for flies available for sale in most any local flyshop. Some of the favorites listed may be tough to find. If you don’t have tippet material, you’ll want to pick up some spools of 3x and 4x to add 2’ or so to your leader with a blood knot. (Fly hook size divided by 3 = “X” size tippet, so a 12 hook / 3 = 4x). Tippet size isn’t that critical for panfish or bass, but you’ll find the flies tend to lay out better on your cast with the right size tippet.
panfish poppers, cork or foam, size 10
foam rubber spiders with rubber legs size 10 or 12
Bead Head Pheasant Tail Nymph size 14 or 16
Bead Head Woolly Buggers, black size 8 or 10
You’ll have a shot at bass with the panfish poppers and buggers, but assuming your rod is 5 wt or heavier, I’d add a few bass size poppers size 6 and maybe an unweighted black Marabou Muddler and a green/yellow Dahlberg Diver (with a mono weed guard) in size 6. You can use them on a shorter (say 6’), heavier leader (2x tippet if you have it 3x if you don’t) to make casting them easier.
If you wanted to try some “trout” flies for panfish any you have (driest, wets, nymphs, emergers) will probably work, and any streamers you have will also be worth throwing for bass and/or crappie. For dries, a good first choice would probably be some heavily hackled , high floating hairwings like Humpies, Wulffs, Trudes or even an EHC , starting in the largest sizes (10 or 12) you have and going down in size until they start whacking at them before starting with 14 and 16s. This way you can reduce the chances of them swallowing the hook, and the bigger sizes are more likely to pill up a bass if they’re around. You’ll need some dry fly floatant too. I like the paste type floatant. The hairwings tend to be tough enough to stand up to a few panfish and if you can’t find rubber spiders, they would be a good substitute… it’s a blast to catch them on top.
Good luck, and let us know how you do!
peregrines
For warm water try Bead head Pheasant Tail and Bead Head Hairs Ears for starters, very productive here. SM and gills and crappies