​Have a Panfish Session

One of the goals of RiverBum is to open up the sport of fly fishing to more folks, from all walks of life, and all ages. Those of us that have been fishing for a while likely started out with a bobber and drowning a worm fishing for panfish.

Fly fishing for panfish is a great way to get a child into the sport. You don’t need the stealth, drift ability, and the match the hatch for trout fishing.

Panfish are plentiful and aggressive. You can find yourself a good ‘ole farm pond without a lot of obstruction for a back cast, and you're good to go.

Using a light fly rod like a 3wt, this is a great way to teach the little ones a double haul. 

The bugs and poppers are small and light. I really like to use poppers with my girls. There are a lot of fly you can use, even going sub-surface. If you do, don't forget your assortment of worms!

I find using poppers allows the girls to key on the bug and more importantly what the bug does when the strip. They’ve got a great visual for how much of a tug creates what type of movement. This way, as they develop into the sport, when they are streamer fishing for larger species, they will have a good idea of what their streamer is doing under water.

This can be a great instructional too, for those that typically dry fly or nymph fish.

Get out there and fish!