Topwater Crappie fishing

[fish_4_all]

I have looked everywhere and have yet to see anyone that fishes them with top water flies or poppers. Is there a reason for this? The reason I ask is the main time I see them in one local lake is when they are feeding on nymphs and popping the surface. I think a top water fly might be one way to get them to hit and get to them when trying to stay away from them and not scare them down from the surface.

Is it just not a common way to fish for them or is it a good way to target them?

[crappie_dan]

I have a buddy that catches em on top at certain times of the year but he uses a small pop r on a spinning reel.

[kody]

ive caught them on a rapala f3
just twitchin it on top
but have had better results on just reeling it and twitchin it underwater

but using it on top in the summer is very productive for bluegills

[Specktater]

It just seems to me they don't feed on top that much. I used to fly fish some ponds with good crappie and never did very well on top. The bass and bluegill tore it up though. Maybe they didn't give the crappie a chance. My best fly for crappie was a black ant, it had slightly hour glass shaped body made of some sort of hard black material with a hackle collar and tail. They loved it but it was a slow sinking fly.

[GRIZZ]

I have caught crappie at night on the surface. Dead calm, noisy crank baits, slow. I've got em on a some pretty big cranks too, but only onesies twosies. I have seen crappie smackin the surface, at night in the fall, but its really hard to match whatever they are hitting and when I have seen those conditions I have never figured out what they are hitting on. I have seen it a bunch of times. It drives me nuts because it always when the walleyes are not hitting and I just can't figure it out.

[yankee doodler]

when they are in the shallows and on thier beds, I just kill them using a flyrod and flys. I've done well with both dry and wet flies, but the flashy wet fly seems to be the big hitter.

It won't take you long to tell the diff between the gills and the specks when they hit. Gills sneak up and kinda suck the fly under and you need to be quick on the trigger w/ them. The specks on the other hand hit more like bass and roll the fly. You need to give 'em a sec before pullin' the trigger or you'll lose 'em.

[Ken Jones]

I have fished over 50yrs. have never caught a surfice crappie. Yes, I also fly fish. Caught Bluegills, Bass, Trout, Pike Minnows, salmon, steelhead, white fish on surfice but never a crappie. I use sink tip line when I fish for crappie from a float tube. I tie my own flys. I use a stainer Duck Tail, and minnow imatations. Ben tying flys for over 30 yrs.

[Crappie Chaser]

I have not caught a surface crappie until this past year in spring and fall. During spring I tried a Culprit Prism popper that they have on the market now and they worked. This past fall, I used some small surface cranks and bugs that a friend in Poland sent me and caught lots of them. Both in the spring and fall, the water was dead calm and was in the mornings and evenings. I'm proud to say, my heart's in good shape, considering some hard strikes on the surface scared the crap out of me.:o

[yankee doodler]

I have not caught a surface crappie until this past year in spring and fall. During spring I tried a Culprit Prism popper that they have on the market now and they worked. This past fall, I used some small surface cranks and bugs that a friend in Poland sent me and caught lots of them. Both in the spring and fall, the water was dead calm and was in the mornings and evenings. I'm proud to say, my heart's in good shape, considering some hard strikes on the surface scared the crap out of me.:o

Yup Chaser like I said the crappie will hit it hard and roll like a bass. I only have success in the spring and haven't tried it in the fall up here, but will now. I think that when they are on their beds some of the hits are more defensive than anything. It's a great way to fish 'em IMHO. Here's a pic of one w/ fly I got this passed spring.

[gone_fishing]

Yup Chaser like I said the crappie will hit it hard and roll like a bass. I only have success in the spring and haven't tried it in the fall up here, but will now. I think that when they are on their beds some of the hits are more defensive than anything. It's a great way to fish 'em IMHO. Here's a pic of one w/ fly I got this passed spring.

nice fish too.