Fly Tying Friday - Floating Dragon Fly Nymphs

September 3, 2021 Panfish On The Fly

During the dog days of summer fish often hold in deeper water. To be successful you need to able to put a fly in front of them. This can be a challenging situation for the fly fisher.

Early in the season, to reach fish holding deep, weighted nymphs and streamers usually get the job done. However, as the season progresses, many of the watersheds I fish become choked with aquatic vegetation. As a result, fishing standard subsurface patterns are an exercise in futility as these flies become hopelessly mired in weeds and muck on every cast. What's needed in this situation is a fly that gets below the surface but stays above the weeds.

The Panfish Chicken Little

September 3, 2020 Panfish On The Fly

I am surprised how many steelhead patterns (with a little modification) find their way into my panfish fly boxes! One of my most productive warm water nymph patterns is my Panfish Wiggler. This pattern is a spin-off of the Spring Wiggler, a very popular steelhead pattern across the Great Leakes region.

The Creature

July 13, 2018 Panfish On The Fly

The purist, dry fly anglers turn their noses up to this ugly easy to tie style of fly because it can be nothing more than a piece of your bath mat lashed to a hook shank. But the thing they hate the most about the fly is that it will likely catch more fish than their exquisitely tied Catskill style dry fly!

The Mop Dragon

October 9, 2017 Panfish On The Fly

Flies using dust mop material have been around for many years now. Mop flies as they are known, are embraced by some and scorned by others.

The Emu Dragon aka The SB Nymph

October 2, 2017 Panfish On The Fly

Every once in a while you develop a pattern, fish it for years, then see something similar designed by another tier. Sometimes, as is the case here, the other individual’s concept of the fly is better than your own.