Further North

Thanks. Super easy to tie as well.

We catch a lot of smallies on musky flies every year...most of them are big... Both of these work on bass, pike, and muskies...

Good looking ties! I've tied mine with similar materials, and also on jigs for conventional gear. Here's a bunch of variations.

I'd love to see what your version looks like, and how you tie them.

Jaw spreaders are cheap: https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-fish-mouth-spreader https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/tyrant-tackle-jaw-spreader You can spend more, but those will get you going. Hooks with crushed barbs make it even easier - I can usually unhook pike, and most muskies, without taking them out of the water. ...for leaders, I just tie tieable wire into my main line.

For pike, you need a jaw spreader, and a steel leader. Barbless hooks make a huge difference too.

Too broad a question...there's simple too many species...

My Ned Rig rod is a 7 ft. 9 in. ML TFO Inshore baitcasting rod with a Shimano Aldebaran 50 size reel on it. Better than any spinning rod I've tried. I keep my index finger touching the line where it comes out of the reel even when I am retrieving. My Senko rod is a 6 ft. 8 in. St. Croix Legend Xtreme XF with an Abu Garcia Zenon MG-X reel. Before this rod, I used a St. Croix Legend Tournament 6 ft. 8 in. MXF. I use the same tactic with my index finger under the line to feel the lightest touch. ...I don't use a drop shot often, if I do I have another rod like the Ned Rig rod with an older Abu Garcia LTX on it that gets the nod for that.

What do possession limits look like where you live? Here in WI, it's typically 2x the daily limit.

I don't know if I have more warm water fly fishing experience - Jason has definitely been at it longer, and has more depth of knowledge. I don't know if you caught it, but this picture: ...and the bit about the smallie eating a musky fly (which happens a lot) happened on my boat this past June. Jason is a fun guy to fish with, and has forgotten more about the "science" side of fishing than I'll ever know.

I'm with you 100% - which is why there is always a mix of fly and conventional gear in my bigger boat, and often in the drift boat. I'm not a purist and never will be...there's too much to learn from gear to flies...and from flies to gear to ignore either in my opinion.

It's as dark as the bottom of coal mine here by that time of day.

I've only done that once...but I've manages to break rods several other ways. Strong winds are a good reason to leave the fly rods in the rod locker...or even in the truck. A couple of weeks ago, floating a river, we came around a bend and the wind was ridiculous...we had to row to move down-river...fly rods got put away, gear rods came out... Me too. ...or days when something like a Senko is working really well.

Overall, it may not be as efficient...but there are times and places (topwater bass being one) where it's at least equal...but that wasn't what I wrote about... I wrote that the "fussiness" is effectively the same...but we're used to it with gear so we don't think about it. Trout aren't my thing...but lots of people love it...and panfish are OK if nothing else is biting.

Not true at all. I guarantee that with topwater fly fishing I can keep my fly in productive water more than I can keep a topwater lure in in productive water. ...for subsurface, it can be a push, or close to it. Not everyone makes a bunch of of false casts before putting the fly back in the water...A good fly angler pulls their bass streamer out of the water as soon as it clears good structure/cover, takes it into a back cast wile letting out line, executes a double haul, and drops the streamer right back into the water at the next spot....do that and even if they do make one or two false casts, each only takes a couple of seconds. ...and I was talking about how fussy it was...not saying it was the same. That's a bunch of fun, and I'll do it when bass, pike, and musky fishing is slow...but I'll use a 6 wt. My 3 wt. hasn't been out of the rack except for practice casting in years.

I can't claim that most fly fishing isn't fussy, because I don't know the numbers, but a lot of it isn't. I think that reputation comes from trout fly anglers, and a lot of it is deserved, IMO. Chucking flies at bass, pike, muskies, even carp, isn't any more fussy that what we do with conventional tackle...it's effectively the same thing, just different gear. I learned to fly fish because fly fishing offers an entirely new set of ways to present "lures" to fish that cannot be replicated with conventional gear...then I learned to enjoy it for what it is, just like I continue to enjoy so much of conventional angling. FWIW, I seldom fly fish for trout - not because I think it's bad, or dumb, or anything like that. Just like jigging for walleyes and trolling, it's just not my thing. Depending on where you live in W MI, you may be within decent driving distance of a great fly shop run by a guy that's anything but a fussy fly angler...although he knows how to do that too. Glen Blackwood's Great Lakes Fly Fishing Company in Rockford, MI ( https://troutmoor.net/ ) is a great place to get started if you have a real interest. Fair warning: It'll seem "fussy" at first, because there's lots to learn and it's different from what we do with gear...but it's no different than having a different kind of rod with a different kind of line, and different kinds of lures/baits for different things with gear.

https://www.thescientificflyangler.com/post/a-baker-s-dozen-smallmouth-bass-fly-patterns

I'm with you on the "different strokes for different folks", and I don't think poorly of people who leave the barbs on, but... I've never lost a fish because of lack of a barb. I've lost fish because I let slack get in the line, or because I did something else dumb...but never because I didn't have a barb on the hook. We pinch barbs on my boats...that's just the way it is.

This is why every hook used on my boats is barbless. So much easier to get out, and almost no risk of having to cut a day short with a trip to the Emergency Room.

There's a considerable difference between wet, saturated dirt, and dry dirt...and the gravel, sand, concrete, etc. that we see bass laying on all over social media. 😂 You're not wrong... ...but there's a trick: Tie in a wire bite guard. I actually intentionally fish for muskies (and pike) with heavy bass-sized gear (conventional and fly) about 90% of the time. It works fine.

Thanks - I didn't check because I won't be doing it - but it's good to know. ...or not. It's not a binary decision. 😉

Education is the key, and doing it without chucking the person engaging in poor handling under the bus. Some of the attacks on people who just don't know any better are ridiculous...and more likely to turn them off than get them handling fish properly.

Thanks, I appreciate the info! Not something I've ever seen. Suckers (big ones) seem to be the lave bait of choice here, and I think using any gamefish is illegal. I'm not a live bait angler - I lack the patience, and don't want to deal with the mess and hassle, but I know a lot of people who do it and enjoy it.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what is a crappie rig?

As you should.