The angler who chases panfish with a fly has a mind-numbing variety of flies to choose from. Traditional dry flies, hair bugs, foam bugs, and poppers will all work if the fish are looking up. As we move into the spring and summer, terrestrial insects become an essential food source on the ponds and small lakes that I fish near home. The shorelines of these bodies of water are buzzing with flying and crawling terrestrial insects and many of them find their way into the water.
Read moreLate winter/early spring can be a frustrating time for the panfish fly fodder. Bluegills and other sunfish are starting to make more frequent forays into shallow water, but cooler water temperatures reduce their need for food and keep them sluggish. To consistently catch fish this time of year you need to fish slow, and you need to fish deep. While panfish anglers in the south may be enjoying the first quality topwater fishing of the year, those of us north of the Mason-Dixon line need to look for our fish below the surface.
Read moreThe Stayner Ducktail is a streamer pattern that has been knocking around in my fly boxes for a long time. It has caught more than its share of trout and landlocked salmon for me over the years and like all successful flies it eventually migrated into my warm water boxes. However, this one did not find its way there by accident.
Read moreIn the beginning to was not called the bluegill cup. At first, it was just a holding tank for my rejects.
Read moreWe might not catch every bluegill that’s in the pond, but that doesn’t matter when the big one sends the drag screaming.
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