Dry/Dropper for panfish?

[nc_cooter]

Anyone fish this way for panfish? What is your best combo?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[half fast]

Best combo is a large cork-bodied popper for the dry fly and then a garden worm on a small hook for the dropper.

 

[muppetmullet81]

I just started actually fishing for pan fish again. In my youth I was always trying to catch bigger and more sporty fish, but as of the last few weeks I have started targeting them again cause they are fun. I use a 4 wt 8ft bamboo rod. Wt forward floating line with a 7 ft 4x leader. For flies I use mostly size 12 bead head nymphs, and white micro buggers size 10 and 12. And then pretty much any ol large dry fly in box will work. I save all my screw up trout flies. Ones that just didn't turn out right or the wing broke off. And use them for pan fish. Its surprising how many crappie will eat drys off the surface on a nice cool evening. Its a great way to get the kids in to fly fishing as well cause they can work on their casts, and knots, and all the techniques and catch fish without trying to impress some snobby trout. Good luck.

 

[brookfieldangler]

I don't really think there is any magic recipe to bluegill. One of the appeals to those fish is they are plentiful and aggressive. I've caught bluegill on everything from clousers to woolly buggers to deer hair popper to tiny little nymphs. I think the only real rule of thumb for any bluegill is to make sure it's size appropriate and that even comes with quite a bit of leeway.

I guess my point in all that is to not over think catching bluegill. Get to the water, throw something on that looks tasty to relatively small fish, and start catching.

 

[turbineblade]

I prefer basically any soft hackle sized 10-14 for panfish. I don't think I've ever NOT caught at least something on one...and often when other things aren't working (like poppers). If you hit a group of them (which is common) you can literally get 20+ fish on the same fly before the body gets torn up. It's fun.

I fish dropper/dry rigs sometimes, but not too often. If I get hung up once I tend to get angry and just resort to using 1 fly. That happens a lot on the tribs around here -- many, many rocks and debris.

That said, try a popper and a #14 brassie and you can't go wrong .

But yeah, most stuff works.

 

[stimulator2]

I have fished the hopper/dropper for panfish in the lake it is a blast. I have used a foam hopper and a soft hackle hares ear under and just lit them up,a little twitch really works good .Have used other nymphs to under and they work just like for trout.

 

[nc_cooter]

Thanks for the input. The dry/dropper gives me better control of presentation. The few local fly rod fishermen I know fish either/or. Most use poppers.
Mike

 

[biggie_robs]

I think the most important thing for big bluegill (bream) is not to use head cement. Be careful about bug spray and suntan lotion, too. Large bluegill are actually pretty selective and use their noses to inspect potential meals.

 

[sixgun]

This is my first post and I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one chasing the feisty little critters on fly tackle. I haven't tried the dry/dropper setup yet as I am totally new to fly fishing and barely have the hang of nymphing right now. That said, I'm always looking to try something new and the bluegill I've been targeting are extremely aggressive right now. It might be a good time to give this a try.

On a related note, I caught the 10-inch measured beast below a week and a half ago in a Utah public lake using a size 6 green wooley bugger on a 5-weight Reddington Classic Trout rigged with Scientific Angler Professional Series full-sinking line. I honestly thought that I had a decent-sized largemouth on the line when he hit. It's easy to forget how feisty these things are. For reference, that's a 3lb. red kayak anchor behind the fish. Hopefully, I can may the dry/dropper thing work on fish like that when the time comes:

 

[stenacron]

When I lived back in PA I used to fish the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers quite a bit. Both rivers (especially the Delaware) had good stonefly populations and my favorite summer combo was a #10 Stimulator (or Madam X) dry with an 18" dropper to a #12 Prince Nymph.

Lots of Redbreast Sunfish, Bluegill, and Rock Bass on this combo... especially early mornings. Once the sun got up the big river chubs (Fallfish) would be all over the dry's. Caught quite a few smallmouth bass as well on the dropper.

I miss those big warmwater rivers back east.

 

[fishers_fisherman]

Just getting started in fly's myself but so far the local bluegill seem to hit on just about anything I toss out (even if it's too big for them to get ahold of). Caught the most on smaller fly's, didn't seem to matter whether dry or sinking. Had the most luck on black foam spiders with long white legs.

 

[nick k]

I personally think that poppers are a pretty ineffective way of fishing for panfish. Yes, you can and will catch a lot of fish with them, but you will catch a lot of panfish on just about any fly. IMO, if you are going to use a floating fly for panfish, terrestrials work best.

I mainly use a simple #10 or #12 black foam beetle and it catches a fish every single cast. Other ant, hopper, or spider patterns will do the same.

 

[turbineblade]

Some of the folks will tell you that subsurface flies catch the bigger of the panfish than surface flies will, but I don't know if that's always true.

To me, small panfish poppers work almost identically to terrestrials of similar size -- in fact, I'm certain that some fish think poppers probably are some terrestrial bug species. How could they not?

 

[dpreller]

all good answers. i like small poppers 8 or 10 with a nymph under them pt or hares ear.but stimulators and madam x work well too. also this time of year terrestrial can be real good. beatles hoppers crickets etc. and a soft hackle underneath gives a little more motion which can be good. small brassies or zebra midges can be good too on the rare times when the get selective.

 

[nick k]

Some of the folks will tell you that subsurface flies catch the bigger of the panfish than surface flies will, but I don't know if that's always true.

To me, small panfish poppers work almost identically to terrestrials of similar size -- in fact, I'm certain that some fish think poppers probably are some terrestrial bug species. How could they not?

That's my point though. If fish are really looking for terrestrials, and you are trowing poppers to imitate terrestrials, you will be much better off throwing actual terrestrials that much more closely resemble the prey you are trying to imitate.

I have heard the same thing about subsurface flies, and I actually believe it to be somewhat true. In general, bream are primarily subsurface feeders and receive most of their prey from this are in the water column. They do of course eat tons of stuff on the surface, but I image that a big, skeptical bluegill would be more easily fooled by something he is more commonly eating.

 

[two_nymph_rig]

In my honest opinion, when I read the title to the post, I thought, "man this guy is over thinking this." To me a dry/dropper rig seems a bit overkill just to catch some bluegill. But since you asked, I don't see why a small hopper or cricket, with any nymph as a dropper wouldn't work. Just don't see if having a huge advantage over just using a single fly.

 

[flymoron]

foam grasshopper size 6, rubber leg bead head nymph size 12

 

[nc_cooter]

Thanks to all for the responses. And yes I do tend to over think stuff. Guess it's the engineer in me. In all of my thought chaos, an occasional gem will be discovered. My wife often says that I require a lot of patience.
Mike

 

[von behr]

I often use a dry/dropper when fishing for bluegill. I figure it increases my chances by offering them two tasty meal options instead of just one.

My go-to setup is a size 10 foam hopper with rubber legs, and any kind of nymph underneath. Copper Johns with small rubber legs are always a winner under a hopper.

-VB

 

[turbineblade]

That's my point though. If fish are really looking for terrestrials, and you are trowing poppers to imitate terrestrials, you will be much better off throwing actual terrestrials that much more closely resemble the prey you are trying to imitate.

No, that's what I'm saying -- if you need to throw terrestrials, throw a popper because it probably imitates them . LOL.

No, I get where you're coming from. To me though, a piece of foam with krystal flash "legs" or pieces of round rubber doesn't do any better than a popper does to copy a beetle or something.

To me, nearly every fly pattern is "suggestive" more than anything else. Just look at the Chernobyl ant --