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.
Read moreBaby Bluegill Streamers for Big Panfish!
Big panfish cannot resist the Baby Bluegill Streamer!
Every year when spring rolls around, a ritual repeats itself underwater on lakes and ponds everywhere. Big male bluegills emerge from the depths and enter the shallows. They are fish on a mission, and that mission is to build a nest, attract a mate and defend that nest, and it's young to the bitter end.
Read moreA classic panfish fly with an unusual name - Tom Nixon's .56%er
Tom Nixon’s .56%er may have an unusual name but the fish don’t seem to care!
I recently reread Tom Nixon's Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Bass and Panfish. I remember taking this book out from the library when I was a boy in the 1970s. I was just getting interested in fly tying, and this was one of the first books I attempted to read on the subject. I say "attempted" because, like most fly tying books of that era, they contained vague instructions and horrible line drawings that were supposed to clarify the techniques described. I returned the book with a sense of being more confused than ever. Fast forward to the present day with forty years of fly tying looking at me in the rearview mirror; I breezed through the book in a couple of evenings. What mystified the ten-year-old boy made perfect sense to me now.
Read moreFly Tying Friday: Jack Harford's "Redneck Tube Bait Fly"
The Redneck Tube Bait Fly
Jack Harford is the contributor for this week’s Fly Tying Friday Post. Jack has written for the blog in the past and his posts are always welcome! In this post-Jack has a fly that will help you even the odds when fishing for warm water fish.
Read moreThe Hareline Dubbin Material Clamp
The new clamp from Hareline Dubbin comes in a set of two for easy material manipulation.
The new material clamp from Hareline Dubbin popped up on my radar a few weeks back. I was instantly intrigued by the design of these new clamps. I am a big fan of dubbing loops and use them in my fly tying a lot. In the early days, I struggled to make homemade clamps out of repurposed stationary clips.
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