Pan Fish And Bass Help

[Bruegy]

I was asked by a co worker to help teach a boy scout troop how to fly fish so they can get their merit badge. I primarily fish trout and am looking for suggestions of flies to use for pan fish or bass. We will be fishing a pond, i was just thinking of using wooley buggers, cracklebacks, zonker...maybe a san juan

Thank You

Kevin

[flytyer57]

I was asked by a co worker to help teach a boy scout troop how to fly fish so they can get their merit badge. I primarily fish trout and am looking for suggestions of flies to use for pan fish or bass. We will be fishing a pond, i was just thinking of using wooley buggers, cracklebacks, zonker...maybe a san juan

Thank You

Kevin

For pond bluegill, you can't go wrong with a foam spider. Any dry fly should work too. The thing with kids, if they can see the take, they would catch more fish and enjoy it a lot more.

[aftersh0ck]

poppers, the kids can see and cast them easier.

[jdmidwest]

Don't overlook a good fuzzy nymph suspend under an indicator either. Hares Ear with a bead works good in size 10 or 12.

[Outside Bend]

Foam ants and spiders take tons of bluegill, as do wooly buggers and soft hackles fished under the surface. If you want to get reasonably fancy you could do some damselfly or dragonfly nymphs, but as JD said, a hare's ear or rubber-legged fox squirrel nymph would work just as well.

[Bruegy]

Thanks, yea i have used little poppers years ago and did well...but i didnt know how well they would work this early. It was middle of summer when i did it.

[DaddyO]

As OB mentioned, the Rubber Legged Red Fox Squirrel nymph in a #10 or #12 worked well for me this time of the year last year. Suspend it under an indicator. If you're going to do it in warmer weather, I've used a #12 Elk hair caddis and had a lot of fun watching the blue gill tear it up.

[kevthebassman]

For what it's worth, I tried out a popper this last weekend and got no takers. Black bead head wooly bugger is what I caught all my fish on. I was using a level leader of 12 pound mono, just cheaper for when you lose it in the bushes and pond fish don't care about a delicate presentation.

[ozark trout fisher]

On top, little cork poppers, Dave's Hoppers, and Royal Wulffs will all get it done. But not for a couple weeks yet-the fish are still all being caught subsurface at least based on my experience. I have been doing well lately for bluegill and redear on local ponds with #12 Beadhead Olive Woollies and Beadhead Prince Nymphs of the same size-twitching them in slowly along the bottom with a 12 foot leader tapering to 6x to be precise. But the 6x is unnecessarily light and I am only using it because I have a few miles of the stuff on hand for trout fishing.

This coming cold snap will put a lid on the warm-water fishing for a few days, or at least make it a lot tougher. But it will get back going soon when the weather warms back up into the upper 50s and 60s.

[drath]

I’ve found that pretty much any fly that takes a trout will take a gill. I really like a Montana Stone in black/chart or black/red. Drowned cricket patterns work well too.

For the merit badge they have to tie their own fly too right? The classic “first fly” IMO has to be the wooly bugger. However, if you want to go the easy AND inexpensive route you could teach ‘em the wax worm or meal worm. All you need is a scud hook, a strip from a latex glove (cream), thread, and a light brown or pink sharpie (for highlights). And yes, the panfish will nail ‘em.

Also, if you need to, I’ve seen plans on the internet for a $5.00 homemade fly vice using a weighted block and an Exacto knife. Just Google Exacto fly vice and I’m sure you will come up with something.

Have fun!

-D