Popcorn popping, well crappie

[SkunkedAgain]

So I don't know why but the crappie were rolling like trout tonight. Didn't have the fly rod, but they took jigs too. Got a few in the last half hour of light tonight. They were really small but got to try the new bump board and I like it. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Nice 27 inch crappie.

I suspect the crappies were slurping up the midge hatches that are coming off all over the place. They will hit both the nymphs and emerging adults. Gotta make a living somehow and when the bugs are as thick as they get during those hatches it is easy for them to gulp a gut full. But, unlike trout, they seldom lock into only one food source and they will usually accept other goodies.
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[BagABigOne]

Nice, good to know there still around. I took the black rock road home last night, man there is a lot of water out there.
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[SkunkedAgain]

It was fun seeing them that active. Maybe they always are, but I'm just not where they are at most of the time and I happened to cross their path last night. I really like crappie, but I sure can't find them as often as I'd like to. Anyway thanks for the thoughts on what was happening. Later J
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[SkunkedAgain]

Yup the water volume has diluted the fish numbers per gallon but a few are still around. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I got to thinking...and reckymembering. I used to fish a small lake in Arizona...close to the Mexico border. It was called Pena Blanca...white pain. It had a lot of crappies in amongst other species. Although they were primarily minnow munchers they also came up for insect hatches at times.

I had several sessions in which I did well by fishing a size 12 renegade about 4 feet behind a plastic bubble...just like troutin'. In fact, I discovered the effectiveness of that method on crappie while casting for the planter rainbows they had recently dumped in the lake. I was surprised when I caught the first crappie on the little fly...and then the second. But after that whenever I saw the crappies swirling on the surface early in the morning or just before dark I served them up the trout menu.

Since then I have caught a grundle of crappies on flies...sometimes on a fly rod...other times by putting a fly on a dropper above a jig or small crankbait. There have been times that my biggest crappies came on feathers.
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[Springbuck]

Works fantastic on peach and bluegills, too, when conditions are right.

My dad grew up in Utah and the fly and bubble was one of his "go-to" set-ups. We used to use the sunk-bubble set up for bluegills, perch, largemouth, and smallmouth when we lived in southern Colorado. It was always just a question of whether we used a big wet fly or a small dry.
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[CoyoteSpinner]

27 incher, good one! Yup, must be a fisherman's ruler. Good thing it wasn't too cold.

Fish are known to grow fastest between being caught, and the story being told.


So Jeff, mind if I ask where you were (you can PM me). Not sure where you can get TO the water along the Bear now, it's so flooded!
You floating your tube?

I don't think it would count as chumming, if it's not "food", but someone once mentioned tossing a handful of pebbles, the crappie think it's a school of minnows, and it sounds the dinner bell.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yup I've got them on the fly as well. I really enjoy their quick flick as they smack a fly. Reminds me of summer trips to the high country. They are a ton of fun on a 3 WT. I'll have to grab the fly pole and see if lightning will strike twice in the same spot. Fun times I hope. Thanks for the suggestions Pat. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[quote Springbuck]Works fantastic on peach and bluegills, too, when conditions are right.

My dad grew up in Utah and the fly and bubble was one of his "go-to" set-ups. We used to use the sunk-bubble set up for bluegills, perch, largemouth, and smallmouth when we lived in southern Colorado. It was always just a question of whether we used a big wet fly or a small dry.[/quote]

[#0000FF]Unless I am making finesse presentations to touchy trout in ultraclear water I generally fish a two fly tandem rig. That allows using two different flies...or two of the same if you want to create a mini school of baitfish. I typically rig with a larger pattern...like a streamer or bugger...at the rear...with a smaller fly a couple of feet in front. I tell myself that it looks like a small prey item being chased by something bigger and that it will stimulate opportunistic fish.

There are lots of times you will catch fish on one or the other more than the opposite. At other times it doesn't seem to matter. And to tell the truth, I don't care...as long as the fish bite one or the other.

This setup works just as well behind a bubble as with a fly rod.

Here's a pic of a nice crappie I caught on one of my "hot head" flies at Willard last year.

[inline "FLY MUNCHER.jpg"]
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[HD7000]

I haven't been able to find numbers of crappie yet this year, but accidentally caught this fattie trolling an F-5 the other day at the bay...

I hope some warm water species start up soon!
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[SkunkedAgain]

That's what I've been looking for... Nice job... J
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[SkunkedAgain]

No second strike. No nibbles no rolling fish. Strike out skunked again. Later J
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