Fly Fishing For Crappie

[stumpy041486]

Anyone ever fly fish for crappie? I would like to, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about it. A fly rod is pretty similar to jig pole, so I was thinking some type of sinking fly similar to crappie jig may work. Any suggestions? All I have ever fly fished is topwater poppers. I'm trying to expand my fly fishing abilities.

[Swampfoot]

I really enjoy catching shellcrackers on the bed with 4-5 wght rod. Use a bead sinking fly.

[deathb4disco]

You'll find more info here:

Fly Fishing

[skeetbum]

Go to flytyingforum.com and search for Crappie candy. A neat simple fly, and clouser minnows with lead barbell eyes also do well. I'll find out more this spring myself.

[yankee doodler]

Flying for slabs during the spring spawn is my fav way to catch them. I use a 9' 5 wt rod w/ floating line tipped w/ 2# tippet or mono. I kill em up here in the lilly pads using a black knat. Just about the time the pads start to emerge at the top o the water they are starting to congregate in 4 FOW and less. With the clear waters we have up here, the top water flies work well. I don't know how clear the water is where you're at, but like was mentioned, you may need to go with a wet fly/bead setup. I hit it right on the head a couple years ago on one little inland lake and had both crappie and huge gills hitting my fly. You could tell the diff by the strike. Gills like to come up sneaky-like and suck the fly...slabs hit like a bass and roll with it. I found I had to let the crappie take it for a second to hook 'em. The gills I could set the hook right off the bat. Hope that helps.