TackleTour

What is the best fly for panfish?

You might get better-targeted advice if you are more specific about which types of panfish you seek most often. For example, perch tend to hug bottom and to require weighted flies, while bluegills are willing to suck popping bugs off the surface when they are shallow. Crappies fall for midwater retrieves of minnow imitators.

Might you use a sinking fly line, or do you plan only to fly-fish for shallow fish?

When fly fishing (even for pan fish) it all depends on what level the fish are feeding, surface, bottom or somewhere in-between. Surface I like a natural they see all the time a large black or cinnamon red color ant pattern

. Bottom you can’t beat a weighted stonefly nymph, turn over a few rocks and see what color the naturals are.

Inbetween I like a very buggy looking wet fly such as a pheasant tail with brown partridge hackle for a collar.

Size also matter so I would have a few of each from 10 - 16. Options : surface - wolly worm, bottom - bead head hairs ear, in-between - mosquito larva.
Picture provided are pulled off the web as examples only.

Take plenty of pictures of your catch and share. happy fishing.

Bronzeye wrote:You might get better-targeted advice if you are more specific about which types of panfish you seek most often. For example, perch tend to hug bottom and to require weighted flies, while bluegills are willing to suck popping bugs off the surface when they are shallow. Crappies fall for midwater retrieves of minnow imitators.

Might you use a sinking fly line, or do you plan only to fly-fish for shallow fish?

I am targeting many species of panfish: bluegill, green sunfish, and what ever else that bites. What are your personal favorites?

Bluegills: #10 popper with rubber legs for surface fishing (black in low light, yellow in brighter light),
#10 McGinty wet fly for subsurface

Crappies: #8 streamer, silver tinsel body, white-over-black marabou wing

I also second lpquick's recommendation of the pheasant tail and bead-head hare's ear nymphs for all-around subsurface use.

My top producers are a Theo's Bomber, a Bully's Bluegill Spider, and most anything size 10 tied with peacock hurl.

my favorite bluegill fly is a clouser concoction i tie with a red poly flash tail. mustad 3366 size 8 or 6 hook, grey squirrel tail over top off white bucktail bottom. red thread, lead wire wrapped around hook instead of dumbell eyes and an off white pair of plastic bead chain eyes.
i make the tail roughly two times the length of the hook shank.one of few flies i can leave in the water while moving to another spot and get surprise! fish. recently caught a nice 15" LMB on one.

Foam ants for topwater.
Various variations of differently weighted buggers for everything else.

Foam spiders for topwater.