What Types of Fresh Water Fish Can you Catch Fly Fishing?

You may be new to fly fishing, or perhaps you’re an experienced fly angler looking to try something new. At one point or another, many fly anglers ask themselves “I wonder if (insert species of fish here) could be caught fly fishing?”. The answer to this question is almost certainly “yes”.

Salmonoids

Some fish species are more easily targeted on the fly than others. Salmonoids such as trout, salmon and char come to mind first, as they are the traditional quarry of fly anglers going back hundreds of years. Some would argue that salmonoids are the only group of fish that are actually easier to target while fly fishing, and targeting other species just makes things harder than they need to be. Perhaps there’s some truth to that last statement, but there’s no denying catching a fish on a fly is a whole other experience when compared to gear or bait fishing. This may be part of what drives us fly anglers to target less conventional species on the fly.

Fresh water bass

There’s a very large number of fly anglers that target largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Targeting these species typically involves larger patterns than targeting trout, with crayfish, poppers, and large streamer patterns being some of the more common bass fly patterns used. You can even catch them on dries, but again they tend to be larger patterns such as stonefly or dragonfly patterns. Smallmouth bass are great fun as they’re strong fighters, and very acrobatic, while largemouth bass are know for absolutely slamming top water patterns.

Esox

The Esox family (pike and their kin) have enjoyed a surge of popularity in the fly fishing community. They require some of the largest flys to target effectively, as even a little pike will slam a fly over half it’s size. Targeting these toothy critters requires either a wire or flourocarbon leader, as their teeth will slice right through monofilament. If you’re a big game hunter, Musky are among the largest predatory freshwater fish, and offer an exciting (although difficult) hunt.

Carp

There’s also a large following of anglers that target carp, especially in Europe. Their unique feeding habits results in some truly interesting flies, such as stacking foam, deer hair style to make a mulberry fly. I’ve heard the comparison that while steelhead fight like a sports car, carp fight more like a truck. Sounds like fun to me!

Panfish

In warm water climates panfish/sunfish are everywhere. Panfish such as bluegill, pumpkinseed, and warmouth are natural targets for fly anglers as many trout dry fly, nymph, and streamer patterns will work just as effectively on panfish as they do trout. They make excellent targets for new fly anglers and kids since they are so common and readily take a fly. Experienced anglers can also have plenty of fun messing around with these fish, especially if you’re chasing after a particularly large (for a sunfish) one. Try tying a small popper pattern and targeting these guys, tons of fun.

Catfish

Many species of catfish, which are typically thought of as bait-only will take a fly. Sometimes you have to present a fly along the bottom, such as a crayfish or nymph pattern, although many types of catfish will take a streamer. While not their primary sense, the eyesight of many species of catfish is better than we give them credit for. You may be surprised at how readily a catfish will strike at a streamer stripped infront of it’s face.

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Other Freshwater Fish

Pretty much any freshwater fish you can think of can be caught by fly fishing, some are just more difficult than others. Fish that are traditionally fished with spinning gear such as Walleye will readily take a streamer stripped infront of them.

Many species of rough fish will take a fly, with some species such as gar requiring novel hookless rope fly patterns to catch effectively. The small nature of many trout flies also lends them well to micro fishing, with small midge patterns being particularity effective.

Saltwater

Saltwater offers so many different fish species to target that it deserves it’s own post. I will post a link here when that article is up!