Fly reel question

bassrecord wrote:
...
PS: In 58 years I've NEVER caught a crappie on a fly rod. Perhaps others
can help.

A fly rod is not my tool of choice for crappie. The crappie rig
I use is a 5'6" ultralight spinning rod, an ultralight spinning
reel spooled with 4lb test and a 1/32 or 1/64 oz. bucktail jig.
A crappie take is VERY subtle, you want as little between your
rod tip and the jig as possible and 30 feet of 4lb test is much
littler than 30 feet of tippet and fly line.

--
Ken Fortenberry

bassrecord wrote:



PS: In 58 years I've NEVER caught a crappie on a fly rod. Perhaps others
can help.


If you find them in relatively shallow water you can do well on them
with a flyrod.

http://www.crystalglen.net/Fishing/Crappie.htm

This is a fly I use. It's sorta like a crappie jig but with bead chain
eyes for weight. I've had some great fishing for them in the late Spring
and early Summer. A slow sinking fly works well. Suspending the fly
below an indicator also works VERY well if you know what level they're at.

It's time to hit the local Crappie lake if it stops raining here.

Willi

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 23:22:45 GMT, daytripper
wrote:

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:01:27 -0700, "bassrecord"
wrote:
[snipped]
PS: In 58 years I've NEVER caught a crappie on a fly rod. Perhaps others
can help.

Well, I've caught 'em on a flyrod by accident...using small, really sparsely
tied streamers fished a few feet below the surface...

/daytripper (you do have to be where there actually are crappies, though ;-)

I used to catch them on a black nosed dace when I lived in Kansas, but
I expect any minnow imitation would have worked as well. The trick
with crappie is to fish at the correct depth.
--
Charlie...

Ken Fortenberry wrote:

bassrecord wrote:

...
PS: In 58 years I've NEVER caught a crappie on a fly rod. Perhaps
others
can help.


A fly rod is not my tool of choice for crappie. The crappie rig
I use is a 5'6" ultralight spinning rod, an ultralight spinning
reel spooled with 4lb test and a 1/32 or 1/64 oz. bucktail jig.
A crappie take is VERY subtle, you want as little between your
rod tip and the jig as possible and 30 feet of 4lb test is much
littler than 30 feet of tippet and fly line.


That's why suspending a fly below an indicator/bobber is so good.

When I used to spin fish for them I used small jigs suspended below a
tiny bobber. If the Crappie are relatively shallow, I think you'll do
better with a suspended jig or fly than fishing one in the conventional
manner. Crappie seem to like a suspended bait and the bobber/indicator
also helps with their soft takes.

Willi

Willi wrote:



Ken Fortenberry wrote:

bassrecord wrote:

...
PS: In 58 years I've NEVER caught a crappie on a fly rod. Perhaps
others
can help.



A fly rod is not my tool of choice for crappie. The crappie rig
I use is a 5'6" ultralight spinning rod, an ultralight spinning
reel spooled with 4lb test and a 1/32 or 1/64 oz. bucktail jig.
A crappie take is VERY subtle, you want as little between your
rod tip and the jig as possible and 30 feet of 4lb test is much
littler than 30 feet of tippet and fly line.


That's why suspending a fly below an indicator/bobber is so good.

When I used to spin fish for them I used small jigs suspended below a
tiny bobber. If the Crappie are relatively shallow, I think you'll do
better with a suspended jig or fly than fishing one in the conventional
manner. Crappie seem to like a suspended bait and the bobber/indicator
also helps with their soft takes.

But if you use a bobber, you have to know what depth to set it.
With a slow sink jig you can fish the entire column until you
find the right depth and then easily put the jig back in the
feeding zone just by counting down.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Ah Hell, Mike. Its obvious to everyone that this reel is only gonna continue
to confuse and confound you and everyone in your immediate vacinity. Let me
put ROFF's best foot forward and offer to help you with this
ever-more-tenuous circumstance. Just take the cursed reel, package it
carefully, and send it to Uncle Danl's Museum of Hardy, PO Box 69, Valley
Center, CA, 92082. As soon as the curator, a gentleman and scholar if ever
there was one, has completed a season or two of authentification of said
reel upon the appropriate waters, a tasteful plaque denoting yourownself as
the contibutor will be prominently attached to the display within the halls
of the museum. Oh, and please enclose some token monetary gift, if you don't
mind, to help in funding the authentification process.

Best regards,
Uncle Danl
Curator


I'll be sure to get right on that! Will the reel need to be
authenticated in your local vicinity or must my monetary contribution
be large enough to cover some time spent in exotic locales?

Since I can't get spools very easily, what do you guys think of that
line that you can change tips? It seems like it would work great for
this situation - if it's worth a damn performance wise. Just curious
if it's one of those things made to catch fisherman, and not fish.

Thanks for all of the info!

Ken Fortenberry wrote:



But if you use a bobber, you have to know what depth to set it.

That's true but my experience is that Crappies will come up to take a
bait/lure/fly but don't like to go down to take one. They also seem to
prefer a fly/lure that just "sits" there over one that is being retrieved.


With a slow sink jig you can fish the entire column until you
find the right depth and then easily put the jig back in the
feeding zone just by counting down.



But you can't keep it at that level anywhere as well as when suspended.
I think the main thing is that the presentation is different with the
fly/lure being suspended. Crappie do like it. If you find Crappie in
water less than 10 feet, I think you'd find that you'd catch 2 to 1 or
better with a suspended fly/lure than with one being retrieved normally.
If there's ANY kind of chop on the water, the fly fishes itself and
you'll get most takes with the the rig just sitting there. You retrieve
just to put the rig in a different area. Just like fishing with a bobber
and a worm when you were a kid!

Willi

"daytripper" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:01:27 -0700, "bassrecord"
wrote:
[snipped]
PS: In 58 years I've NEVER caught a crappie on a fly rod. Perhaps
others
can help.

Well, I've caught 'em on a flyrod by accident...using small, really
sparsely
tied streamers fished a few feet below the surface...

/daytripper (you do have to be where there actually are crappies, though
;-)

I've caught about a dozen this year. On big Green Gurglers, on top, around
docks. I caught a couple more on a trolled black wooly bugger while
paddling my canoe to and from other fishable spots. They were all 9 to
14". And it's always a surprise! If I were actually fishing *for*
crappies, I would be using something like a Cap Spider in yellow or
chartreuse. And I would probably never catch one. I just got a bunch of
those from Big Dale and I'm going to try them tomorrow. I also tied up some
honking big (size 4 6xl streamer hook) gurgle buggers in black that I hope
to finally catch my big bass of the year on right after dark...

--
Stan Gula
http://gula.org/roffswaps

Stan Gula wrote:

They were all 9 to
14".

a 14" crappie??!! jeez, isn't that like catching a blue marlin on
pro-rata, equivalent tackle?

"Mike" wrote in message
om...
I'll be sure to get right on that! Will the reel need to be
authenticated in your local vicinity or must my monetary contribution
be large enough to cover some time spent in exotic locales?


The curator will, of course, be happy with whatever largess you should deem
appropriate.



Since I can't get spools very easily, what do you guys think of that
line that you can change tips? It seems like it would work great for
this situation - if it's worth a damn performance wise. Just curious
if it's one of those things made to catch fisherman, and not fish.

Thanks for all of the info!


Mike, get a rod to go with your reel and go have some fun. Personally, I
would advise you to look at the lower end of the range of weights that your
Hardy will support. Think about a 6 or even 5 wt for the types of fishing
you are describing. Don't get too caught up in the minutia just yet. Go have
some fun.

Danl