Is it possible to catch crappie with flies? I heard of a couple guys doing this… what is the best way?

I have used flies once and it was a very interesting experience for crappie fishing.  Most crappies prefer bait fish for their meals but in the spring, during the spawn, they will eat just about anything they can see and fit in their mouth.  Crappies are notoriously ravenous during the spawn, so much so that they will even bite an empty hook with every intention of swallowing it not the simple test bite.  I am no fly fisherman but it was at this time I thought I might give it a shot.

The water was about three to four feet deep and was filled with all sorts of brush and structures supporting boat houses and ramps.  I knew that the crappies were in there but all conventional methods resulted in lost hooks.  Later that year I pulled some of the brush out of this area and recovered no less than ten jigs.  I found pulling a fly across the top of this shelter to be fruitless during the day but in the evening when the lights of the dock were attracting small insects and small bait fish this proved very effective.  I would pull the fly all the way across the shelter but I found that about four to five feet past the edge of the shelter they quit biting on flies and jigs would work better in that zone between the edge of the shelter and about three feet out.  I tried the same set up the next day over a sunken crappie bed with no luck at all.

So give it a shot but be sure you bring a back up along.

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