Best panfish flies for spring?

[Finlander]

Just purchased a new fly rod and reel and I want to set up for crappies and sunfish. The leader is a 5 weight.

Any suggestions for panfish in early spring?

[OnAFly]

Look for woolybuggers and streamers like the gray ghost and the black nosed dace will work for crappies. Small clouser minnows might work as well, if you can find them small enough.

As for sunnies, go with small poppers and large dry flies. They can never resist a white Wulff.

[DEADhead]

anything white is a good start. you'll catch panfish on the same nymphs that you'll catch trout on. hare's ear pheasant tail nymphs, etc., are really effective, especially if they have rubber legs on them. the beauty of panfish is that they can be really aggressive and will take most of any offering you give them. Unlike trout, they almost prefer a splash on the water when cast, twitch the fly a little on the surface. Be prepared for a rogue bass or pike to take your fly on occasion.

[Muddog]

As you see this one was a sucker for a Mickey Fin. The Black Ghost took some too. My #1 is The Black Ghost.

I used a 6' section of 6lb fluorocarbon tied to the end of my fly line then tied on a 3 foot section of 5X tipit. I tied the tipit to the leader with a surgeons knot. I leave the tag end of the fluorocarbon line 8-10" long and tie a fly to it and one to the end of the tipit. I like to use fluorocarbon as a leader to help get the streamer down.

This Crappie came from 1-1/2 foot of water today.

[OnAFly]

I was hitting them on that same streamer last year on the fourth, I couldn't remember the name of it though. They're a lot of fun, though!

[Bigslugger]

I was catching Pannies on Christiansen GT Adult BWO size 16 tonight. Only thing they would take

[trailratedtj]

if you lived closer to me i could give a [PoorWordUsage] load of "ugly flies" or as i call them "panfish flies".

I have a box set aside that i throw all my ugly or "experimental" trout flies in that didnt turn out so well when i was tying them or fishing them, they usually work pretty good for the panfish. i use them for panfish when i feel like fishing but dont care to drive 2 hours to go trout fishing.

hell if i wasnt going out of town tonight i could bring a bunch to work tomorrow, i work 15 minutes from burnsville. i have MASSES of them!!!

[catflisher]

As to the Mickey Finn fly....I've been tying a Finn for years now that substitutes floresent chartruesse for the yellow part of the fly and it has nailed the Crappies in the early season...I've often shown off catching three fish at a time with it when conditions were right..I find rubber legged foam spider bugs work on the Sunpike..