Fly Fishing for Crappie

[NCthompson]

Does anyone here ever fly fish for crappie? I know a place that is stocked with crappie and wanted to try out my fly rod. Anyone know what type of lure you need for it. Do you actually need a fly or could you use a crappie jig or a nightcrawler?

[CGH]

I been using a fly rod for years to catch crappie.  Just used what ever crappie lure u like and go at them, I just used minows

[NCthompson]

k thanks. so when you get it out there do you just leave the bait or do you reel it in? and when you reel in do you crank it with the handle or pull the line

[Ballpark Frank]

Are you actually fly-fishing or just using a fly rod, there is a difference. If you mean truly fly-fishing, where you cast using a fly line, leader, tippet, and fly, then I suggest using small streamers. You cast and let the fly and leader sink to desired depth(wherever the crappie are holding) then slowly strip between 6 to 12 inches of line continuously. If you just want to use a fly rod with mono line on the reel, then do as suggested above. Alot of crappie fishermen use a fly rod with a small spinning reel, due to the length of the rod. Now, you can get specialized crappie rods.

[32251]

Back in the 60s we used fly rods to crappie fish because they were longer and you could troll allong the bank and just flip a set up out rather than do any casting.  We used a hook, a smaller sinker and a quill bobber with a bobber stop tied up the line. When you raised up the line, the quill would ride down the line to the sinker and make it much easier to "flip" the bait out into tree tops and cover. The quill would then ride back up the line as the bait sank and stop at the bobber stopper.  

The quill works much better for crappie and it offers less resistance and you just watch for it to bob a little.  Hard to find those these days.

[Bream Master]

Here is my gear:  8 1/2 foot, 5 wt. with a 4x or 5x tippet.  I use brown wolly buggers in size 8.  I'm sure olive, black or white buggers would work too.

Summer time, floating line.  Cooler weather, add a sink tip to your fly line and then attach leader to sink tip.  A lot cheaper than having a to buy an sinking/sink tip line.

Cheers.

[HUNTER19]

Just use a crappie jig and cast it out there and strip it in.

[skillet]

32251, Fishing with my Father when I was a kid, we would use a set-up like that for bream because you could pick it straight up and not hang up near as often. It has really been a long time since I've seen the quills for bobbers ...

                                    As Ever,

                                     skillet

BTW Apologize for hijacking the thread :-X