Fly fishing for crappie: anyone do it?

[Tifoso]

Been looking around for crappie books and came across this:




https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....,200_QL40_.jpg
I am intrigued. I haven’t fly fished (trout) in years.
Anyone do this with crappie? If so, would you please consider posting a tutorial?
Over to you.

[GreenLine]

Funny you would post this. Just yesterday I took my kayak and fly rod out to catch some blue gills and thought about giving the crappie a try with the fly rod next spring during the spawn.
I’m sure they can be caught other times of the year but the spawn should be a blast.


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[Noodle rod]

I have thought about it many times especially when they are in an area with no wood around,but it always seems to not happen. Now I can't catch a crappie to save my hide. Oh well, my brother went out for a two day bass tournament and caught zero fish! The lake is in very poor shape right now,fish have shut down and are in survival mode,with danger that they may not.

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[fredo]

It's the most fun method but not that practical unless the fish are shallow.

If you're set on doing it, best bet is to buy the book.

[Grainraiser]

The only time I can catch crappie with a flyrod is when I am fishing riprap during the spawn. Bluegill keep my 2wt busy for me.

[Redge]

Spring time, streamers.


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[Kevind62]

I tie lots of crappie jigs with my fly vice and fly tying material. Not really practical to really consider it "fly fishing". You could throw streamers at them, but you'd never be able to do it successfully due to crappie being cover oriented fish. If you could find cruisers on the flats you could luck up and get one now and then. You're pretty much jigging with a fly rod other than that. I do it in the spring a lot. I use my fly rods with 12' leader and 3' of tippet just to keep from pulling the end of my fly line in and out of the rod eyes and wearing the floating tip out. If you fly fish you know those lines aren't cheap. During the spring spawn early morning and late afternoon you might luck top and get one to hit a popper or hopper if they're feeding close enough to the surface. You're definitely not stripping a streamer through a brush pile. If you knew the depth of the top of a submerged pile you could strip one across the top and maybe get one to come up and hit it. Crappie jigs are easy to tie. Not much to them. I buy weighted jig head hooks and paint the heads if I desire. Some peacock hurl or chenille of color choice, marabou, and some pearl flash and you're good to go. I've never tried streamers. I hang up enough with my jigs when fishing heavy cover. If I tried streamers I'd probably spend more time trying to invent new 4 letter words than fishing.

I fly fish the Rocky Mt. range from Sept through late Fed and in to early March from NM to MT. I usually crappie fish from mid March through late Aug around the house and in MS. If the fish are on fire I'll fish the first part of Sept. I'm usually deer hunting the KS rifle season then swinging over to IA for the first gun season. From there I'll usually head either to CO or WY and fly fish for a week or so then head home for Christmas. Then back up to NM for an annual early Jan trip I make with a couple friends from a fly fishing forum I'm a member of. Usually too cold further north by then and most of the waters are frozen with the exception of the tailwaters. If you don't mind fishing sub-freezing temps at the base of the dams the fishing can be pretty good in the winter since the water coming out of the dams are usually a steady 45 - 50 deg F. Getting there is another issue with snow and ice.

[fredo]

You could throw streamers at them, but you'd never be able to do it successfully due to crappie being cover oriented fish.

Tie in a weed guard. Problem solved. LOL

[BobC]

My experience was the bite wasn’t as good as for pans, BUT using wet flies such as wooleybuggers and similar I have caught them in my creek in 3-4 ft water.
Bob

[Flyfisher66048]

In my experience the best times to catch crappie on a fly rod is in the spring, or when they are shallow enough to reach with a fly rod.

In the spring you can find them in the rivers as they move into spawning areas, or near the banks/rip rap where they spawn. Your fly has to be close to the bottom. We used to use one of two methods: sinking fly lines of indicators and long leaders. With the sinking fly line use very short leaders of straight mono and moderately weighted flies. Cast upstream, let the fly get close to the bottom, and work it back with short strips. Keep moving until you find the fish. Smaller Flies with bead chain eyes that cause the fly to ride hook point up are best, they can be Clousers, wooly buggers, etc in white, sliver, chartreuse, etc.
The other setup was a floating line with long leaders indicators (ok Bobbers) and heavy jigs. In the spring the wind is always blowing, you have to be careful casting this setup in the wind. One of the guides that gave a talk about this tech at our club joked that after using this method for a awhile, you could probably shoot him in the back of the head with a 22, and he wouldn’t even flinch. Again, your fly has to be close to the bottom, adjust the depth of your fly using indicator.

Crappie come to the surface chasing shad , and during hatches. When they are chasing shad, throw a similar sized color streamer int the mix. Great fun! During hatches throw a you can throw nymphs or dry flies depending on what the fish are keyed on. Cover both with a dry fly/ dropper.

While there are times you can catch crappie with a fly rod, overall I think you are better off with a spinning rod and a pocket full of jigs.