Found my new passion

[itchmesir]

I think my new love is fly fishing.. its almost like worm fishing when done on a lake.. you never know what's gonna take the fly..

i just got my first fly rod thursday night.. fished it friday on trout streams.. loved it.. then today went and hit the lake for some pannies.. while also landing a white bass and a 3-4lb freshwater drum..

absolutely love the fight.. even a bluegill gives you a nice little fight.. normally i fish ULs only.. with the occasional MH when fishing the mississippi.. but i think i may switch to using the fly rod more often

[DEADhead]

awesome!

[dcmusky]

Crappies can be fun at this time of year too! And you gotta try a good smallmouth river, just a hoot.

[OnAFly]

Sunnies are a blast on a fly rod. I was out on friday afternoon and fished sunnies for a while and ended up catching a nice 17" largemouth. On a 5 wt, that was a lot of fun. I can't wait for opener to get my 10wt out on some pike!

[itchmesir]

Crappies can be fun at this time of year too! And you gotta try a good smallmouth river, just a hoot.

what would you suggest for crappies? i have been tossing Hare's Ears on the lake and catching gils.. drum.. and a couple bass.. so im guessing the crappies would hit it as well? red/white streamer?

[Sam Sterner]

Small clousers. Clousers will catch anything and can fish quickly at variable depths.

[OnAFly]

Look for any small streamer pattern. Mickey Fins and Grey Ghosts work well. Try woolybuggers as well. They are an all around fly that will catch just about anything depending on the size of the fly. Also, try dragging a large nymph about a foot behind a strike indicator. You will get the sunnies with that as well.

[tom_w]

So, when you caught all them trout the other day were you using caddis-like flies? Drifting them under the surface?

I may try my fly rod tomorrow. I need to have a plan for what flies to use. I saw some serious risers the other day on my new fav stream. They weren't surface feeding, but boiling near the surface.

[OnAFly]

For fish that are hitting somehthing just under the surface, try an emerger patttern. Blue Winged Olive emergers work well this time of year and caddis emergers will too. They sit in the surface film, lower than a dry fly will.

[itchmesir]

So, when you caught all them trout the other day were you using caddis-like flies? Drifting them under the surface?

I may try my fly rod tomorrow. I need to have a plan for what flies to use. I saw some serious risers the other day on my new fav stream. They weren't surface feeding, but boiling near the surface.

a majority of the trout i caught were on buck hair caddis.. a couple on mosquito patterns as well... all my pannies and randoms have been caught on hare's ears

[Muddog]

Quote:

I think my new love is fly fishing.. its almost like worm fishing when done on a lake.. you never know what's gonna take the fly..

i just got my first fly rod thursday night.. fished it friday on trout streams.. loved it.. then today went and hit the lake for some pannies.. while also landing a white bass and a 3-4lb freshwater drum..

absolutely love the fight.. even a bluegill gives you a nice little fight.. normally i fish ULs only.. with the occasional MH when fishing the mississippi.. but i think i may switch to using the fly rod more often

I think it is safe to say: Every one who reads this forum on a regular basis has been there at some point. Now you will have to try 3-8wts and get one of each.

[dcmusky]

All I use for trout are wooly buggers I also work down stream and make it work like a minnow. Its a great all around fly. My best day crappie fishing was with a brown wooly. Early trout really go for this pattern and big buggers are key for big browns. When you think about it a minnow pattern may be your best bet early as the first hatch is trout eggs.

[jonny_redhorse]

Yes!....Sunnies(my favorite are bluegills)are fantastic on a flyrod....Betts poppers are my favorites for these guys... not that flys of some sort would work no doubt...just that it's fun to "see" the actual "hit" on the surface with the poppers....one from last summer evening out of my canoe....

[tom_w]

Gee that's gorgeous.

[Chisox]

Nice pic!! My favorite it the girddle bug for panfish, you never know what you are going to catch and it is cool to tie into a large bass on the lite gear.

[Bigslugger]

Can't beat a X-Beetle on panfish either!