Fishing Flies for Panfish

Fly-fishing for panfish can be a very enjoyable, and if you design your own fishing flies, rewarding experience. Most fisherman see fly-fishing as just a way to catch trout, grayling, and other cold water species. This is simply not the case! Fly-fishing can be one of the more effective weapons in a fisherman's arsenal for catching panfish. In general, panfish are mainly insectivores, and most fishing flies just so happen to mimic insects. Like every kind of fishing, it all comes down to bait and presentation. There are many fishing flies for panfish and it can be hard to choose which one to use in a specific situation.

Panfish Fly-Fishing Equipment:

Before choosing which fishing fly you are going to use, you must first choose the correct equipment. You may not know, but fly rods come in different sizes and actions just like regular fishing rods! For a newcomer to the sport this can be a little daunting, but it's not very hard to figure out. Fly-rods are designated by "weight" which is a fancy word for size and strength. The lower the number, the smaller and lighter the rod. When fly-fishing for panfish, most anglers choose a 4 to 6 weight rod. As always be sure to match your fly line properly to the rod/reel. Boxes of fly line will have what weight rod they are matched for printed on the box.

Once you have your rod is set up and ready to go, make sure you have this quick list of items with you to optimise your fishing experience:

• Fishing Vest, fly-fishing utilises many small lures and bits of tackle, making a vest a great investment (joke not intended). Also many fly anglers enjoy wading, or walking into the water to fish. A good fishing vest will help keep your gear high and dry!
• Hemostats, always a good idea but even more so when pursuing panfish with flies. Panfish have a nasty (but exciting!) habit of hitting flies hard and swallowing them. A good pair of hemostats can save your valuable fly, and if your not planning on eating it anyway, a fishes life.
• Leader Sink, which is a material you can buy at your local fly shop, is used to sink the part of the leader closest to the fly. Fish tend to get suspicious when a piece of string is hanging from that tasty "grasshopper" floating over their head.

Fishing Flies for Panfish:

Now that we have our rod, reel, and other gear together it's time to talk about what fishing fly to use for those wily Panfish! While there are far too many famous patterns to list, we'll just go over the general "patterns" that seem to work best for panfish. All flies can be busted into four different categories:

• Dry-Flies, one of the most fun kinds of fishing flies for panfish, are flies designed to float on the surface of the water. Most dry flies attempt to precisely mimic a certain type of insect or other prey item. To fish these flies all you need do is cast to the fish and let it land on the water. Some common dry fly patterns for panfish are the Stimulator, Madam X, and Mr. Whitlock's array of cricket and grasshopper patterns.
• Wet-Flies/Streamers, or sub-surface flies, can imitate a wide range of panfish forage from drowned terrestrial insects to even small fish. These flies are characterized by their long and sleek profile, which best imitates baitfish. Some classic panfish wet-flies/streamers for sunfish are the Muddler Minnow, Woolly Bugger, Clouser Minnow, and the Matuka.
  
• Nymphs, which almost solely mimic juvenile aquatic insects or crustaceans, are quite deadly for panfish as these two food types dominate the menus of most panfish species. Just a few of the best nymph patterns for panfish are the Bitch Creek, Zug Bug, San Juan Worm, and Golden Hair's Ear.
• Bugs, or popping flies, are very similar to popper lures used by spin and baitcast fisherman. These flies are usually made out of light weight materials such as hard foam or even balsa wood, and usually feature rubber legs and feathers to imitate insect or frog limbs. As these kind of flies are less often tied, and more often mass produced for tackle retailers, it's hard to pick names.