How long has the term “float-n-fly” been around? That is new to me and I stumbled across it in a video so I decided to search it and boy it pops up everywhere!
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How long has the term “float-n-fly” been around? That is new to me and I stumbled across it in a video so I decided to search it and boy it pops up everywhere!
Where exactly it started may be up for debate…but its origin is TN. Be it Dale Hollow or East TN is up for debate. Crappie anglers were complaining they couldn’t keep the smallmouth off their jigs when fishing for crappie. So smallmouth anglers started fishing the same way. I have fished it for several decades. The term Float N Fly is not really a crappie term, although many think it is. Punisher jigs created a very popular Float N Fly kit decades ago. The most used jig back in the day was a hand tie from duck feathers. We would fish it on the worst winter days that came along. Using 9 foot rods with braided line fishing about 15 feet deep. The float was weighted for the size jig we were using. The more wind you had in the winter the more fish you caught. Under brutal conditions one could boat 50-60 Smallies a day.
Regards
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it is my opinion that windy days with floats has an advantage , the wave action gives the bait a similar to a struggling bait fish action in said conditions and the refractions from the uneven water surface makes it less likely for the fish to detect a pretend offering .
my version is a float and a jig ....not float an fly .....just saying
Float and jig works very well for spring crappie. Absolutely deadly
Out West we called it jig and bobber. When the wind kicked up Granddad called that a crappie chop. For smallmouth marabou jigs in black and various shades of brown were deadly.
The float n fly is simply a small jig under a float. IN FISHERMAN put out a couple articles on them, first article I remember was around 1995, just a couple years after I started tying them myself. When I read the article I thought that's what I've been tying for the last couple years and first hand tie of mine that caught fish and lot's of them. Still my #1 bait. Mallard flank feathers, and craft hair are the main ingredients to tying them. I used to sell some of them on ebay auctions and once sold a dozen of them for $61.00 Back then I just called them duck jigs. To me they are as close to automatic as you can get . Tie one on and start ketchn.
Thanks for the post everyone, my son and I enjoyed reading them together. In my area I’d say the most popular way to fish panfish is with a float and tube jig or a float with a regular hook and worm. I’m starting to experiment with a float and hand tied jigs I think once the bite turns on it’s gonna work well for me.
Thanks BigTat
I’d say about 90% of the trout I’ve caught while fly fishing were with a “float & fly”. I spent three days fly fishing in Colorado and one day in Montana this year. Every single trout I caught came on the F&F.
In fly fishing, the float is called an “indicator”, and we’re fishing two or three flies (not jigs) below it.
It’s not my favorite method, but it is deadly. LOL
Yep, my Grandpa called them "Newlight waves".Quote:
Originally Posted by Oregon slabman
I think I've told the story a couple of times about him talking about going fishing for "Newlights", and me, a young lad, thinking we were going fishing for some new fish species .... only to realize we were fishing for Crappie, and "Newlight" was just another nickname of said fish. :Doh: :Rofl
What JungleJim and Alpha have said is spot on. I met and talked at length with a Dale Hollow guide about it and during the cold part of the year his wife stays mad at him cuz everyone wants to fish. His recounting of some of the trips is just as they’ve said, 50 plus is doable. It’s as effective a technique as there is. He told of seeing fish on the sides can at 20’ deep and that was how long the leader had to be. He had to throw the jig out the other side of the boat and then cast toward the fish. The jig hardly got settled when it got hit, and that bite lasted til the next major front messed it up. It’s also about as addictive as fishing gets.