With spring right around the corner, it is time to restock some warm water fly boxes. Every year, the first fly box worked on is the one that contains my favorite crappie flies. Bright, colorful soft hackles are my favorite flies for early season crappie. I discovered these flies by accident several years ago. My son, who was seven years old at the time and just getting started in fly tying, had tied some soft hackles with the most colorful materials I had on my tying bench. One of his creations found its way into my panfish fly box. In desperation, I tied his colorful wet fly on the end of my leader when nothing else was working and was rewarded with a fish on the first cast. This was followed by another, and several more after that. What had been a slow day on the water turned into one of the best days I have ever had for early season crappies. I have tied and fished these colorful soft hackles ever since. I have played around with colors a bit but I have had the most success with chartreuse bodies and pink, blue or orange thoraxes. For the hackle - hen pheasant, grouse or partridge will do the trick. Throw a wire rib on or leave it off, it is your preference, the fish don't seem to have one. Since using a tenkara rod is one of my favorite ways to pursue these fish, I have added a kebari version to the box as well. I'm not convinced that the reverse hackled kebari is any more effective than a standard soft hackle, but it feels like the right thing to do.
