Chris Granrud had a post last week describing his favorite Crappie presentation for this time of year. This is sort of an addendum to that report. I just got back from our annual spring Crappie/Sunfish trip to Northern St. Louis county and the fish were definitely keyed in on insects. Here’s a close up of the fly that worked very well for me. I was using a 6 weight fly rod (mainly to deal with the wind!) while my daughter…Sharon of IDO and her husband Billy….were using spinning gear. A small bobber, a couple of split shot, and one of my Damsel fly imitations and it was game on! The first picture is a Damselfly nymph. These things live for a couple of years before they hatch into flies and there are millions of them in a lake. The fish are very used to eating them.
For you fly tiers out there, this pattern has TWO materials. The eyes are bead chain, the stuff hanging off the light fixture in your closet. Cut every other wire link and you end up with two big bug eyes with a piece of wire inbetween. Tie that down behind the eye and move the thread down to the bend of the hook. Take a Marabou plume and tie the tips in for a tail, then twist the rest of it into a rope and wrap it up the shank to for the body. That’s all there’s to it. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do the same thing with a small jig. I’ve had my best luck with Olive, Brown, and Grey Marabou.
The fishing wasn’t easy this weekend. LOTS OF WIND made boat control, casting, and presentation very challenging. The fish were shallow and biting but scattered all over the lake. We’d find a few Crappies here and a few there. We did run into a big school of Bluegills one evening and that was a hoot.
Rootski
