Spring Pan Fish 2014 - Heating Up

As the spring chill has turned into more hot and humid days I have been thankful to see the rise in pan fish activity and spawning. Yesterday I spent a few hours in the afternoon fishing a local pond for blue gill, pumpkin seed and crappie. I met a friend and his family while on the water and enjoyed a nice laid back day of catching scrappy fish and light conversation.

The bite was on and within a few hours plenty of fish were brought to shore. Of course I started out with my blue gill slaying pattern the bead head mirage back scud and had plenty of decent fish on in no time. My buddy who was using spinning tackle put one of my patterns on under a float and had great success as well, dare I say more then I had partially I believe due to being able to suspend the fly above the weeds and right in the zone.

I left the pond to go have dinner at my parents and on the way home stopped back in for more action. As the night progressed the crappie bite started and I was able to land plenty of feisty average size fish. They keyed in on the retrieve more then the pattern, as long as the fly was retrieved with long strips and a pause they were all over it. I switched over to an epoxy minnow towards the end of the evening and had a fish on almost every cast. At 9:45 when I was having trouble seeing and the bugs started to feast upon my flesh I choose to call it a night. I took a few pictures just to share here, at this point I have caught so many thousands of pan fish that I normally only take pictures of ones that are larger then normal, or that have interesting markings.

Hot Patterns Today

Bead Head Mirage Back Scud

Bead Head PheasantTail Soft Hackle

Parachute Dry Flies

Epoxy Minnow - This pattern and the picture below is that of Ian Collin James, you can find a step by step tying guide here:  http://www3.sympatico.ca/ianjames/fly-tying.html

Pan Fish Formula - Part 3 - The Retrieve

The retrieve or how you impart action into your fly at times can be the difference between an outing catching fish and being skunked. Having a slew of techniques at your disposal will allow you experiment and hopefully find a presentation that entices your prey to take your fly. I have found especially with pan fish the action and retrieve can play a very big roll in not only catching fish, but at times catching the bigger fish. These methods can also be applied to trout and other species and have saved me from many days that would have found my skunked.

Dead Fall: The dead fall is what I call it when you cast out your fly and either let it start sinking unhindered immediately or when you strip it in to a likely holding spot and at that point let it sink. This technique works best with unweighted or lightly weighted flies in still water situations, flies with rubber legs and buggy dubbing seem to work very well with this method.  The slow rate of descent seems to drive the gills crazy and often times you will see them slowly come up from below towards the fly. As they rise they are inspecting the offering and more often then not by the time they are underneath it they have committed and you will soon see the white flash as they inhale the fly. This method works best when sight fishing because when you are allowing the fly to free fall you do not have any connection with the line to feel strikes or nips.In murkier water or under low light conditions if you see the fly disappear or act unnaturally set the hook. You can set the hook using your rod tip, but what I usually end up doing is a combination of setting the hook by moving my rod tip up or to the side coupled with a sharp strip of the fly line.

Strip: When fishing small bait fish patterns that are weighted in the front with lead eyes or a bead the strip retrieve works wonders. Cast out and allow your fly to sink for a few seconds and then begin to slowly strip the fly back towards you. Target weed beds and structure to bring your fly through and vary the timing and length of your strip. Sometimes they want short quick erratic strips and other times long slow strips will be the key. Like any retrieve do not be afraid to play around and try something different.

Jig: Depending on the area you are fishing sometimes you are able to present the fly vertically. Be it from a bridge, standing on deadfall or a log (be careful!) or from shore jigging down to crappie around structure or weeds this technique can be very effective. Buggy flies with rubber legs create lots of motion and are great for this method. Simply allow your fly to sink down vertically to whatever level you want, above weeds, beside structure etc and with your rod tip jig the fly up and down. I have had a lot of success using this method from a bridge at the local pond.

Sweep: The sweep is a technique that I have been playing around with for both trout and pan fish. Cast your fly out past likely holding areas and allow it to sink for a few seconds. Next with your rod tip pointing towards your fly slowly sweep it back pivoting your body. This will pull the fly at a steady speed right through fishy water while allowing you to control how fast or slow it is traveling. I find that this retrieve can get finicky trout and pan fish fired up. As we all know most prey does not stop when pursued so the consistent speed and movement of the fly seems to incite aggressive takes.While sweeping be sure to hold onto your line with the other hand to strip when a fish takes the fly. You can also speed up the fly even more by sweeping and pulling line at the same time. I find that often times the larger more aggressive fish will be most interested in this method. My personal best crappie was caught using a bead head mirage back scud and this retrieve.

Dry Fly: Dry fly fishing for gills and other pan fish is a very fun and exciting way to catch fish. By using small/medium sized trout style dry flies and poppers you can have a fun filled day/night on the pond.

In the dog days of summer when lots of insect activity is happening towards dusk sometimes just casting a dry fly onto the water is enough to get every fish's attention within 10 feet. Often times simply casting out and leaving the fly stationary works wonders, usually ending up in a blow up or hooked fish within the first 10-20 seconds. Skating and popping bugs near weed lines and structure is also very effective.

SBS - Bead Head Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle

This fly was originally sent to me as part of the FTF bluegill swap last year. It worked wonders on my local waters for both pan fish and trout and after using it I just had to tie a few more up. At the same time I figured I would share this pattern with others and take my first crack at making a tying video.

Pan Fish Formula - Part 2 - Equipment

Fly fishing for pan fish is an amazing action packed activity that is a great way to spend an afternoon. Getting equipped to fish for these scrappy fighters does not have to be expensive or difficult, in this post I would like to share my personal progression and thoughts with other anglers.


First Rod: My first ever fly rod purchased with pan fish and small bass in mind was a cheaper 5 weight 9' Okuma Tempest rod and reel combo. A step up from the pre packaged fly fishing kits this pre built ready to fish combo set me back $100. Toss in a few flies and some leader/tippet material and I was around the $150 mark. Now to me that is a cheaper setup and knowing that I love fishing I figured that I would enjoy fly fishing just as much if not more then spin casting. That being said if I did not know how far I was going to take things, or if I would even enjoy it I may have gone with a much cheaper $40-60 combo just to get out on the water catching fish. When targeting pan fish you really do not need top of the line gear or tools at all. If someone were to ask me about buying a rod specifically for pan fish I would ask if they planned to use the rod for anything else. My choice to go with the 5wt came from the chance that I may eventually use the rod to fish for bass, otherwise I may have started out with a 2-4wt rod.

Second Rod: Once fly fishing had its hooks into me (pun intended) I started to look at 2-4wt rods that would be more geared towards small trout and pan fishing, increasing the fun of hooking smaller scrappy fish. I ended up purchasing a customs 6' 7" inch 2 wt rod from Midwest Custom Fly Rods out of Michigan matched with a 2/3 Okuma SLV reel and I must say for pan fish and small trout this rod is amazing. One thing to think about is with a 2 wt rod you are limited in what flies you can cast. It limits you to small weightless flies, and only the smallest of bead head nymphs and tiny streamers, but the delicate presentation that comes from using this rod just seems to drive the gills bonkers. The first night I took this rod out to the pond I put 100+ fish on it within only a few hours. If you are only planning to target pan fish and perhaps smaller trout down the road a 2-4wt rod is a great idea IMO. With that in mind there will likely come a time when a larger bass, carp or other pond fish takes a swipe at your fly and hooks up...hooking up with a 6-10lb carp on a 2wt will not likely end well for your rod. Also with the lighter weight rods it can get difficult casting when it is windy.

Third Rod: The third rod that I purchased to chase bluegill with was a 12 foot Tenkara rod. Tenkara is a very simple method of fly fishing from Japan. A tenkara rod is a telescopic rod usually in the 12-15 foot range that does not use a conventional reel. Instead a level line (usually a section of 15# or so fluorocarbon line) is attached to the tip of the rod. At the end of this line (I usually run 10-13 feet) you attach some 5X tippet and then your fly. Tenkara matches very well with pond fishing for gills and is even deadlier on small trout streams I have found. The focus with tenkara is more on presentation then the actual fly you are using with many tenkara masters only using one single style of fly only in different colors or sizes. If you would like more information on tenkara there are many great sites that focus on the topic such as Tenkara USA.

Leaders & Tippet: When fishing for pan fish cheap trout leaders will work just fine. I am a person who is exceptionally hard on my leaders, be it from wind knots or abrasions from rocks I cannot seem to keep a leader in working order for anymore then a few trips. Because of this I have gone to making my own tapered leaders using fluorocarbon and maxima leader material. You can purchase 100 yard+ spools of fluorocarbon fishing line for relatively cheap and it can be used for both leader material as well as tippet. I usually keep well stocked on 4-12lb line and have a few different spools of maxima along these ranges as well. Most of the time my pan fish leaders are made to be around 9 feet. Sometimes I taper down 3 steps going from 8lb to 4lb over that nine feet, sometimes in 3 foot increments, other times I will go with 6 feet of say 8lb and taper down the last 3 feet to 4lb. I play around with a lot of different formulas for building my leaders but have found that when pond fishing for gills it does not seem to matter all that much due to the size and weight of the majority of the flies I use. As for tippet I usually use 4-5X tippet or 4-6lb fluorocarbon line as tippet which seems to do the trick. Check often for wind knots and abrasions in your leader and tippet and switch out as needed. There is nothing worse then losing a trophy crappie or gill due to a compromised leader or tippet material.


Fly Selection: In part one I went over my theory of fly selection for a particular pond I fish. It is never a bad idea to carry a wide assortment of flies in a dedicated pan fish fly box stocking up with patterns that work and replacing things that do not. The flies that I started with included wooly worms, small wooly buggers, pheasant tail and hares ear nymphs, scuds, sow bugs, and small poppers. Once you start to key into what the fish are after in your area you can start experimenting with different patterns. Simply put though, pan fish love movement, rubber legs, jigging motions and small buggy flies in general. When you get into larger crappie you can start stocking up on small bait fish imitations as this can be a large portion of their diet.


Don't Leave Home Without Them: Before I leave to go fish for gills there are a few items that I make sure to double check that I have brought along. Number 1 is a pair of small forceps used to remove hooks from the small mouth of bluegill, pumpkin seed and red ear sunfish. Without these I would say that 80% of the time I would not be able to safely and quickly remove the hook. The second item on my list is a pair of polarized sunglasses. Having eye protection while swinging around a sharp hook is always a great idea, as well being able to take the glare off the water and see what is happening below the surface is priceless. With polarized glasses you can see where fish are holding, following a fly, or see when the fish become spooked. Aside from that it is never a bad idea to carry a small first aid kit, water for hydration, a small snack or two, and of course a camera to take pictures of the many beautiful fish you will catch.

Pan Fish Formula- Part 1

Fishing for pan fish was the thing that ultimately pushed me over to fly fishing and after a few hundred hours targeting the same fish I have been focused on for years while spin casting I have come to some realizations. I spend most of my time fishing for these little fierce fighters on the same pond, targeting the chunky bluegill, spunky pumpkin seed's, and colorful crappie that I love so much. This has allowed me to really tune into this body of water and focus on the mood and feeding habits of these fish. I have been using a formula last season that allowed me most days to get onto what the fish wanted within the first 30 minutes of fishing. Before I go into any more details I will just say that these are methods that have worked for me and may not work for everyone on every body of water. However I think that by trying these methods and ideas you may find that they work for you where you fish. The methods have been broken down a bit below:

Arrival - Upon arrival to the pond while rigging things up I usually take a step back and observe the water. I am looking for signs of fish in the shallow bay, were they are holding, are they taking insects and bugs off the surface, are they hunkering down deeper? Water temperature/clarity and weather conditions are also things to take into consideration. Polarized sunglasses are perhaps my most valued piece of equipment while fishing for gills, being able to see what the fish are doing and where they are holding is priceless.

First Fly - The first fly I select to fish with is usually something more natural and buggy. PT( Pheasant Tail) nymphs, hares ears, scuds, worms, bead head soft hackles and buggy flies in the more natural colors. Greys, olives, browns, and tans are the colors I start with first. As far as hook/fly size goes I will begin in the 12-16 range as this seems to be a good place to start. If I start to get some followers that are hesitant to take I will usually downsize a bit, most of the time the sweet spot seems to be a size 14. The most deadly fly I have found on this body of water is a size 14 bead head mirage back scud. Be it dead drifted, allowed to sink, jigged, stripped or pulled in steadily it always seems to produce fish under all but the harshest conditions. The first night trying out my new custom built 2 wt rod I put over 100 fish on this fly in the course of a few hours. If after 10 minutes I have had no followers, no takes, nips or action I will move away from the natural flies and onto my second selection.

Stocking up the boxes with natural colored flies.

Bead Head Mirage Back Scud

Materials

Hook: Size 14 Scud Hook

Head: 3/32nd Brass Bead 

Rib: Small Copper Wire

Shell Back: Opal Mirage Tinsel (Medium or Large)

Body: Custom Scud Dubbing (Made from Australian possum, brown, grey, orange antron fibers and a pinch or two of rust ice dub)

Above is the Bead Head Mirage Back Scud. A simple scud pattern I tied up initially for trout, I was looking for a quick and easy pattern that would be as effective as some of the more labor intensive scud patterns with shell backs using nymph skin or scud back. You can pump out a dozen of these flies fairly quickly and with minimal materials. For the dubbing I use a custom dubbing blend mixed in a coffee grinder, but any buggy nymph dubbing or scud dubbing will do the trick. I will be posting a step by step in the future along with many other productive gill patterns. I never leave home without them when targeting trout or gills.

Second Fly - If the natural approach has not produced for me after 10 or so minutes I will then switch over to flies that are brighter, colorful and that have more movement usually in sizes 8-14. Here I will start off with wooly worms, panfish buggers, wee willie wigglers, scuds or nymphs in bright colors with rubber legs and buggy dubbing. Sometimes it seems again at least in this pond that the fish want something a little brighter, a little more flashy, a little something extra to catch their attention. I will vary retrieves as well with any fly as mentioned above, from dead drift, letting it sink slowly, jigging it above or around weeds, stripping it back, or even swimming it fast and steady back to shore. Colors I will use are usually focused around chartreuse, pinks, purples, greens and florescent colors.

Pan Fish Bugger

Above is a pan fish bugger pattern that I found from a video on You Tube . The rubber leg tail is very tantalizing to the fish and is often enough to entice them to strike voraciously. I use them both in natural colors as well as bright eye catching colors to cover all my bases. These are tied on size 10 2X long nymph hooks with red brass beads.

Fly Fish Foods La Bomba

The La Bomba bluegill fly created by Cheech from the Fly Fish Food blog is a great fly to weed out some of the smaller fish. I find that when the gills want this fly it is usually the chunkier ones and they hammer it. The ones I have tied above are a slight variation on the pattern tied on size 10 barbless streamer hooks.  I did not have the exact materials listed on the FFF blog so I improvised a bit and created a slight variation on the pattern, but I can assure you it does not change how deadly effective this fly can be.

Top Water - If I see lots of action along the shallow bay, fish splashing at and taking insects off the top I know that it will be a productive day/night for fishing dry flies and poppers. Sometimes if you know fish are around but they are not showing any action on the surface it still may not be a bad idea to toss a few dry flies or poppers out. Small foam/wood poppers in sizes 8-14 work great, and the larger sizes also give you a good chance to land some bass. Personally I prefer small elk hair caddis, humpys ,parachute style dry flies, griffiths gnat style flies in bright flashy colors, and even heavily hackled wet flies that will stay afloat if let down softly on the water. Anything with a buggy profile small or large seems to attract gills from far and wide. The dry fly action on many bass and bluegill ponds can be exhilarating . Most of the time all you need to do is cast the fly into calm glass like water and wait for a taker to come and smash the fly. When the fish are taking things off the top they do not seem to be to picky about what they try to inhale.

Humpy

CDC Elk Hair Caddis

Parachute style dry fly

In all but the toughest situations this simple formula above puts me into fish. Now some people will go on to say that blue gill are indiscriminate eaters, that they will eat just about any offering you can throw at them at anytime. This can seem to be true at certain times, but at other times I have found that these fish can be really picky, not wanting a fly with a bead head, not wanting natural colored small buggy flies or perhaps large flashy colorful flies. More then anything what I am trying to convey with this article is pan fish can be very picky eaters, especially if you are after some of the bulls and trophy fish. Give the methods and ideas I have posted here a shot, perhaps they will give you some success on your home waters.

Expect a few more articles in the near future that go into a bit more detail on topics such as retrieve, hunting for bigger gills and crappie, and material selection for tying bluegill flies.

Tight Lines!