Notes

 

When I used to think of Perch, an image of a Sponge Spider or Rubber Legged Popper would come to mind.  Now, I think of Bluegill and my Squirrelly comes to mind. 

I still fish with Spiders, Poppers, and Divers but only in the calm of early morning and late evening unless, of course, the fish are feeding on top during the day.  Sometimes when the bluegill are hitting surface flies but aren't very aggressive, a sub-surface pattern like the Squirrelly will provide hook-ups.

 

Also, if I find a concentration of bluegill that are taking surface flies and they become wary after I catch a few, changing to the Squirrelly always produces more fish. 

Again, if I catch a bunch of fish on surface flies along a particular shoreline in the early morning, when they stop hitting I work back over the same area with the Squirrelly to keep the rod bent. 

The Retrieve I use most often is a slow, short hop along the bottom.  If that doesn't work I try a quicker twitching retrieve at different depths. 

I've caught countless numbers of bluegill on this fly when nothing else was working and, also when other flies were working, the Squirrelly always managed to entice larger Fish. 

In addition to bluegill, I've taken crappie, catfish, garfish, school bass and two, three pound bass on the Squirrelly. 

I don't know what this fly imitate; maybe the fish think it is a small baitfish, crawfish, or nymph.  Who knows, maybe it resembles a variety of fish food depending on what retrieve is used.  Whatever it is, they sure like it, especially biiiggg bluegill. 

The Squirrelly is a sub-surface pattern something like a Crazie Charlie, only much simpler.  It is tied inverted with bead chain eyes, no body or flash, and a wing that is cut off just past the hook bend.