It is possible yes. TD was catching them this spring that way.
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I've caught them on the fly this year. I haven't seen them surface feeding and it's all been subsurface.
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That has been my experience as well, no surface feeders. Maybe just below the surface though.
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I've caught them on a fly but they were not right on the surface. They were sub surface at Willard along the east dike.
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Back when I was a poor graduate student, I would supplement my Ramen noodle diet every spring with some crappie fillets that were exclusively caught on the fly. I would get them either with "fly-and-bubble" and conventional gear or with classical fly gear and floating line. Either way, the hits were exactly the same. The crappie would hit after the fly stopped and sank a little after a strip of the fly or with the fly and bubble at rest reeling in a stop and go fashion. They almost never hit the fly on the surface or if it was not sinking. They weren't far below the surface either as I used floating line and usually 2 ft leaders and I wouldn't let it sink very far.
Once I learned this trick, it was almost always "game on". I also found they had a fondness for black flies of various patterns.
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What pattern of fly did you use or have you best success with?
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Would you believe that the ones I had the best luck with were these cheaply tied black flies that I got from K mart in a 12 pack for about 4 bucks. Hooks were size 8.
I think they were loosely called a black ant or maybe gnat, but they weren't tied like a black ant you'd get in a good fly shop.
That said, any black colored pattern seemed to bring pretty good action if fished as described previously.
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yes, in fact I caught some very decent ones at pineview back in the late 90's before they got all stunted. I was "cheating" however, using some very small micro jig/flies that I tied under a large little corky....pitch it right up in the flooded bushes with my six weight, and game on. for me, it was more 'catching crappie on a fly rod' than fly fishing for crappie.
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i caught a ton of them down at Powell on a modified clouser, along with wall eye and some bass, even a few blue gill went after it. Read the link in my sig about the Powell trip, all I did was fly fish.. sink tip line, a modified clouser (brown/red) and some structure was all it took.
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[#0000ff]Crappies eat a wide variety of both minnows and invertebrates. So they will hit almost any fly that looks like it could be food and if it is presented in the right zone. Only rarely do they feed on top but it does happen when there is a large hatch of larger bugs. Otherwise you need to locate their preferred depth on sonar and present the flies either at that depth or slightly above. Crappies are one species that seems to always look up and almost never feeds downward.
I have always done well on flies for crappies both at Willard and at Pineview. White, chartreuse, yellow and black patterns all work. I have also done well on combos of black/chartreuse, pink/white, pink/chartreuse, red/chartreuse, etc. In murky waters a contrasting color can work well. Crappies are primarily sight feeders and they hit what they can see best.
I did try some flies for Crappies in late April this year on Willard...with good results. I used a sink tip line to make short casts and fish the flies at about the five to seven foot depth at which the crappies were cruising. I mostly used white patterns, with silver ribbing. My best success was on a white "hot head" fly with a red eye. Always a good color combo for all species at Willard.
In the past I have done best at times with black patterns. An old west coast steelhead fly...the "silver hilton" is well-liked by Utah crappies. And the popular trout pattern "midnite fire" works well for them too.
They will hit small flies...down to size 10 or 12. But bigger fish usually respond better to larger ties. I use mostly 4s and 6s.
You don't have to use a flyrod for crappies. I have caught a grundle with bubble and fly and with drop shotting flies.
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Thanks for the info Everyone, I'll pass it on to WillCFish. Great info.
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Caught quite a few this year on small clouser's, Fl green/white seemed to be the best with a little flashabou! tied in
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I have taken my fly rod out on Willard several times this year in my float tube and caught tons of crappie with it, especially when the spawn was going.
I used a sinking line with white and olive wooly or crystal buggers. I landed a few Walleye this way as well. I mostly fished pretty shallow and was actually pretty close to the bottom.
I fished and caught them all over the lake - southwest corner, area by the outlet, and all over the east side of the lake.
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I tie wet flies that are very close to a small marabou jig.
They are a small woolly bugger. Size 12 to 16.
I also tie them on a jig hear that has no lead on it in size 6 and 8.
This Spring, I used them the same way I used the marabou jig.
Use a strike indicator and fish the fly the same depth as you do a jig.
The indicator is a lot smaller than a standard bobber, so it is a lot more sensitive to the bite.
My best colors are either all white or all chartreuse.
I use a bead head to help get the fly down but you could also sue a small split shot.
You can also use a full sinking line and strip the fly just like you do a larger woolly bugger.
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