Panfish are one of the most accessible types of fish in North America. Additionally, these fish are both eager to take flies and put up quite a fight for their size when hooked. This combination of traits makes sunfish the perfect fly fishing target not just for someone learning how to fly fish, but experienced fly anglers as well.
Bluegill are extremely widespread and are likely the most common sunfish in your area. Bluegill are far from the only type of panfish that’s widely available to target though, such as the pumpkinseed sunfish pictured above.
Let’s look at some of the best flies to target panfish, and then talk a bit about what equipment is needed when fly fishing for sunfish.
Panfish Flies
Sunfish are opportunistic predators and prey heavily on both aquatic insects and terrestrial insects that fall into the water. They also feed on the fry of other species, smaller minnows, and like most fish species, worms.
Since they’re opportunistic, panfish are not picky eaters, and will readily take a wide variety of flies.
Trout dries, topwater flies, nymphs, and streamers all work well for targeting panfish. Some panfish such as crappie have quite large mouths, so can handle flies in bigger sizes. Many other panfish species have smaller mouths though, and the flies need to be sized appropriately. I use flies in the 8-12 size range for most of my panfish fly fishing. Crappie is the exception, and I’ll use flies up to a size 2 when targeting these fish.
Basic trout flies work well, but bold and bright patterns can work even better for panfish. Since panfish are not picky, a fly designed to draw the attention of a fish will be more effective than a fly tied to perfectly imitate a natural prey item. This is a departure from the “match the hatch” logic so often applied in fly fishing for trout and other selective species.
Bold colours such as red, orange and pink are quite effective. Adding some movement to the fly such as marabou tails, rubber legs, or soft hackle collars is also an effective way to trigger a strike when coupled with a twitching retrieve.
When fishing streamers, I typically retrieve quite slowly. Sunfish will chase down a fleeing prey item, but they’re much more likely to pick at a slow-moving prey item. For this reason, a slow retrieve has been the most effective for me. Appropriately sized woolly buggers and leech patterns have been the most productive flies for me, and make up the majority of my panfish fly box.
Nymphing also proves to be a highly effective method of targeting panfish. If you’re not getting a bite, a short twice every 5-10 seconds should draw attention from any nearby fish.
As mentioned above, standard a dry fly designed with trout in mind will also work well for panfish. If you’re buying flies specifically for panfish though, I find hopper, damselfly patterns, and appropriately sized gurlgers and poppers to be particularly effective.
Depending on the water you’re fishing, weedless flies may make life much easier for you. Especially if fishing later into the summer months when aquatic plant growth is at its height.
Panfish Fly Fishing Equipment
Fly Rod, Fly Line, and Fly Reel
Unlike some other species, there’s no need for special equipment when targeting sunfish. A general-purpose fly rod intended for either trout or bass is a good setup for a fly fishing panfish rig. Use common sense here, don’t try using a spey rod when fishing for panfish!
A fly rod in the 5wt to 6 wt range is ideal for an all-purpose sunfish fly rod. Going this heavy is also ideal if the panfish live alongside bass, as these rods will have the backbone needed to handle a stray smallie or largemouth.
If you’re not going to be throwing bigger flies such as poppers or bead-head streamers, you can get away with a smaller fly rod. A fly rod in the 3wt to 4 wt range is ideal for a specialty panfish fly rod.
7 Foot, 3/4 Weight Fly Fishing Rod and Reel Combo (Amazon Link)
Making long-distance casts is generally not needed when targeting sunfish. You’ll be making short, accurate casts most of the time. A shorter, medium action (or even slow action) fly rod is preferred over a long fast action rod. A medium action fly rod around 7′ in length works well for panfish.
A note on fly line selection. If you live in a warmer climate (IE Southern States), you may consider getting a warm water fly line rather than a standard trout line. Warmwater fly lines are manufactured with compounds specifically designed to avoid going limp in the summer heat.
While the reel is an important part of the rod setup, you can go quite inexpensive on reel selection. The most important consideration is to get a reel that is properly balanced to the fly rod you’re going to be fishing with. This aids considerably in casting. If you go with a combo fly rod starter pack, you can be assured that the reel and rod are paired properly.
Leader/Tippet
Sunfish are not typically line-shy, so there’s no reason to tie on an exceedingly light on the line (although you can often get away with it). I typically use a 5lb Leader (Amazon Link) for panfish, sizing up to an 8lb leader if I think there’s a good chance of hooking into a bass. A lighter line helps with the presentation of the fly. If you use an excessively heavy tippet, then you are going to reduce the action of the fly.
Panfish Variety
Panfish typically refers to members of the sunfish (Centrarchidae) family. The sunfish family has quite a few different species of fish, and these fish have quite a broad range across North America.
Members of the sunfish family include Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Rock Bass, Warmouth, Redear, copper nose, and Green Sunfish. The most common species vary by geological region and specific waterbody. As mentioned earlier bluegill are one of the most widespread species of sunfish.
Largemouth, smallmouth, and other sport bass species are also technically sunfish. For the purpose of sport fishing though, no one considers a bass a sunfish.
Final thoughts. If you are looking to introduce someone new to the world of fly fishing, panfish are the perfect target. They’re plentiful, eager to strike, and are frequently found in easy to access locations.