Whats a Good Fly for Crappie?

[Arrroman]

I've seen these fish in moods where only slow presentations worked with jigs, seems a fly could work well. Any suggestions?

[harley]

Try a March Brown or similar wet fly fished in or just under the film during the spring spawn. Results can be spectacular!!

[myronman3]

i would try a variety of streamers.  the more they imitate minnows the better.   good luck!

[donavan2]

weighted white and pink work great for me.

under a strike indicator strip and let fall- strip and let fall.

[historybuff]

Local baitshop sells a fly called the "timberwolf". It has a yellow yarn ball near the hook bend fishermen say represents an egg sack. Fished as a wet fly over spawn beds in the spring it works good. But then any other wet fly would probably work too.

[Brett]

I love fishing for Crappie with a fly rod! Once for once they fight harder than any trout!

I've had good luck with Crappie using streamers, Wooly Boogers, small dry flies like Royal Wulffs, Sedges and Mayfly imitators as well as small poppers at various times. Spring is a great time of year to catch them in skinny water with dry flies & poppers.  As we progress further into the summer you will generally need to fish deeper with streamers & nymphs.

But the best advise I can give you is to get your hands on a variety of flies and change them frequently on the water until you find what is working on that particular day on that water.

If you have never fished for Crappie with a fly before you are going to love it, I promise.

Brett

[Bugflipper]

Do a search for bream wolf or bream killer. A nice little spider legged fly that can be fished like a streamer. I've had numerous crappie on this little rig. Try black or brown body with white silicon legs, easy to tie to boot.

[SQUACKS]

i have taken them from our lake on streamer patterns.

 the 2 that i go to most are the black nosed dace and the assasin. you may want some differant sizes. maybe #6 and on down smaller.

 i normally use a sink tip line to fish streamers but in shallow water(if you can find crappie there) you can get by without it.

[earschplitinloudenboomer]

White "long hackle" or "soft hackle".  Mostly a couple white saddle hackles, palmered around an aberdeen hook (size 6). White dubbing for body, silver tinsel spaced on body, tied with white thread. Very easy to tie, like to strip it back just under the surface. (Crappie seem to like to feed up...capture thier prey from below).

[Woodbutcher]

Dear Arrroman:
 I gotta agree with Donavan2. The stuff on the hook is second place to where the hook is, cause them critters can be real persnickty bout depth. Sometimes it seems that it's a matter of inches. ( usually when I'm fishin! )
 Soft materials for streamers might be a good place to start, cause of the slow speeds sometimes preferred. Maribou, tinsel, white, bright.
 If they're cooperatin, a ham on a bullrope works fine, if they're not, ....!
                                                                Woodbutcher

[sharps4590]

On a smallish local lake last spring I caught 8-10 crappie on what seemed every other cast for over an hour.  The fly was an yellow and black Clouser with some silver flashabou.  I used the small bumbell eyes and if I remember correctly the hook was a # 10, 2X streamer hook.  It may have been a # 8 but I don't remember.  It sure was fun and good eating but our crappie don't fight nearly as well as some others must.

Vic

[Questor]

When you find them, they'll take just about anything. Depth matters a lot, so have a few flies that sink pretty deep. Color seems to matter, so I like to carry both white and black flies. If one doesn't work, the other one usually does, unless of course I need a brown one for river fishing.