Thursday, December 12, 2013

Icefishing Fly Patterns for Panfish

Here's some icefishing flies I had tied last year, using microjigheads and beadheads:


Mark Anderson is a fellow member of Central Iowa Anglers.  Mark absolutely LOVES ice fishing!
He has a blog, and if you enjoy icefishing and want to learn more, it a great read!
http://icefishanderson.blogspot.com/

Around mid-summer of this year, Mark approached me to tie some ice-fishing "flies".  Maybe "flies" isn't the best word to use here.  They were mainly tied on tungsten ice-fishing jigheads, so they are ice-fishing jigs.  But, it is something any fly tyer can do.

Mark had some specific ideas of what he wanted tied, based on the various ice-fishing conditions he often encounters.  In some waters, natural colors and textures are very important.  In other waters, bright UV colors are often best for both Bluegills and Crappies, as well as the occasional Yellow Perch.

We tossed around Mark's ideas, I made some suggestions based on my own experiences and observations, and we agreed on a variety of patterns to try.



(Below is under UV light):

(Below is under UV light):


Early reports from Mark have been that he has gotten very positive reaction from the fish on the ones he has tried.  If you want to find out more, hopefully Mark will be posting something about it on his blog later in the season once he has completed more field testing.




7 comments:

  1. Nice ties! Love the UV photos. I recently have been tying on 60 degree fly hooks but have yet to test them. My goal is simply to insure a hook up ride, but they may be truly jig like. Can't wait to see.

    Gregg

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    Replies
    1. Good luck, Gregg! Is there somewhere on the internet where folks might be able to see your fly/ice patterns? I have seen some of your carp flies on various sites. :)

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    2. My experiments thus far have been for slumming, (fish other than carp,) actually for our local whitefish and trout, and some for bluegill. I intend to further my exploration with these hooks into the carp realm, bass as well. Some of my recent trout ties I posted on the CarpPro site I frequent often. But your ties have given me lots of ideas!

      Gregg


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    3. My experiments thus far have been for slumming, (fish other than carp,) actually for our local whitefish and trout, and some for bluegill. I intend to further my exploration with these hooks into the carp realm, bass as well. Some of my recent trout ties I posted on the CarpPro site I frequent often. But your ties have given me lots of ideas!

      Gregg


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  2. Great flies, this may be a dumb question: why the UV. Do panfish see in UV spectrum?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, most fish, including panfish, can see in the UV spectrum. Chartreuse flies & lures probably catch more warmwater freshwater fish than all other colors combined. As it turns out, Chartreuse is, in my experience, the color the lights up brightest under UV light. Crappies especially seem to be enamored with chartreuse-colored flies & lures.

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