Fly rods & panfish

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
Popping bugs are one of my favorites on pan fish. And on a bream buster, not just a fly rod. Something simple to use. And effective. I inherited 3 bamboo fly rods after my grandfather passed. He used fly rods way back when cause bait was not available like today. Thought about posting some pictures of them here. More than one "tip", or end section came with them when purchased. The tip section might split if it struck a limb, etc.
 
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Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
Popping bugs are one of my favorites on pan fish. And on a bream buster, not just a fly rod. Something simple to use. And effective.

My favorite kind of fishing! I grew up in the front of my Dad's two man juniper swamp boat with a bug pole in my hand. I got so good with it that my Dad actually handed out an occasional compliment on my expertise on putting that bug where I just knew a Godzilla bream or redbreast was lurking, and he wasn't big on complimenting anyone on anything.

Anymore it's hard to find a cane pole which will make a good bug pole, but occasionally I stumble across a bream buster or crappie pole which will work pretty well. I'd love to get back into the swamp with a decent paddler and see if I can still do it like I used to.
 

CutNRun

Ten Pointer
Contributor
I used to tie flies in junior high school ( father taught me) and I'd carry them to school to sell to other guys who also loved to fly fish. I tied hundreds of White Millers and Black Ants with a red, white, or chartreuse butt. You could almost seine a pond of bream on those bugs. I used some of the money to buy an Eagle Claw fly rod from the fishing section at Kerr Drugs downstairs at Cameron Village in Raleigh.

Back when it was a working dairy farm, I had permission to fish all the ponds on Kildaire Farm. My mother or father would drop me & a jon boat off with lunch and a few drinks. I would absolutely wear the bream out in those ponds. I caught a 31 ounce bream in one of those ponds in 1972 when there was nothing but woods and pastures out that way. Still my lifetime best bream.

Jim
 

HarryNC

Eight Pointer
Small black popper. If you zoom in on the photo you can see it on the hook keeper at the top of the cork grip. Caught these on a pond at my hunting club, but I'd be up for a trip to Falls Lake (or just about anywhere else, really).
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I know everyone likes those poppers, but you can usually catch 2 or 3 times as many around here using a sinking fly like an ant or a size 12-ish nymph.
Kinda like minnows vs jigs for crappie?😊If memory serves you are a jig fisherman?
So you know It’s about the bite.

of course I am biased. That was the way we fished. three generations that shunned anything but a bug for brim on a fly rod.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Kinda like minnows vs jigs for crappie?😊If memory serves you are a jig fisherman?
So you know It’s about the bite.

of course I am biased. That was the way we fished. three generations that shunned anything but a bug for brim on a fly rod.
I’m just sayin’. You don’t find many bass fishermen sight fishing beds with a whopper plopper. You let a bait gently sink in their bed though, and it’s on.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I’m just sayin’. You don’t find many bass fishermen sight fishing beds with a whopper plopper. You let a bait gently sink in their bed though, and it’s on.
No they use twitch baits that stay over their head if they want to go topwater on bass. same with the brim. You just get the bug over them and let it sit. They cant stand it.
But an ant is a fine tool as well. Just not as much fun. imo.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
I know everyone likes those poppers, but you can usually catch 2 or 3 times as many around here using a sinking fly like an ant or a size 12-ish nymph.

Use both at the same time, thats what i do....take a yellow popping bug and tie a short leader directly to the bend of the hook of the popper and have a black or red ant trailing behind it. the popper (if they dont hit it first) will be a strike indicator for the ant.
 

Hrlhustler

Six Pointer
I’m just sayin’. You don’t find many bass fishermen sight fishing beds with a whopper plopper. You let a bait gently sink in their bed though, and it’s on.
No but a devils house, frog, and mouse sure get used
 
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