How deep to you fish for bluegill?

hey folks - I'm in a bit of a quandary. The only time I can really get away and fish is over my lunch hour and I'm fly fishing from shore and have to cast out 10-15 ft past the vegetation to hit open water.

As you can imagine this presents it's own set of challenges. I'm thinking about tying a rope onto a garden rake tossing it out there and dragging it back to "rake" out a couple of clearings. But that's another posting.

Back to fishing. Since the sun is high, I know that the fish are not hitting anything on the surface but are holding and eating further down in the water column.

Just curious...
1 - How deep do you fish for Bluegill when they are not feeding at the surface?
2 - What methods are you using to get your flies down to them? Split shot? Weighted flies?
3 - What are you using for a strike indicator?

Thanks for all your help - still trying to figure out this warm water thing!

hey!
i read in the sports afield almanac that people do use rakes to open up areas. it also causes a feeding frenzy according to them. they say it releases micro organisms that fish feed on....who knows but i think you should try it. i know when fly fishing for large bass i look for break ups in vegetation because it usually means a large fish is using it as a channel! it seams to work. i try to fish as deep as i can in high sun. i use bead heads and seems to get me in the zone. im usually about 6-8 ft.

It sounds like the weedline might actually be a good place for you to fish. I would consider tying up all black cap spiders http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-ti...ishing-169727/ and let them drop about 2 feet outside the weedline. This is an excellent pattern for summertime bluegill, easy to tie and very productive. I would of course also try an all black leech pattern tied on a size 10 hook with several wraps of wire undedr the body for weight. Let us know what works for you and how you do.

Jim Smith

Hey James - thanks for the note.

The real problem with fishing deep on the other side of the weed bed is it's a real tussle to try and lift them up over the weeds and slide them across the top to shore. The deeper I fish, the harder it is to get them up and over. Once they are on the weeds I just have to pull back and slowly horse them through, all the time wondering if I shouldn't have changed my tippet the previous cast!

That's a great pattern - I'm working on finding a place to get my bench set up. We don't have a basement in the house we moved into here in Oklahoma so that extra space is all used up for now. But I hope to find a secretary's desk that I can use for a scaled down version and tuck it in a corner somewhere.

I'll try raking some weeds out and let you know how it goes...

thanks!

Jim

Dragging a rake will help to clear a area to fish, but it will also stir the insects that live in the weeds and cause them to feed. As for depth I normally start about 1' and work my way down, with wieghted flys. I don't like to use split shot around weeds it just gets hung in weeds. Good luck post a pic of what you catch. And for a strike idicator I have have had very good luck with the Thinga ma bobs in 1/2" size they just need a good butt section of leader and they will stay where you put them.

In response to the strike indicator question. When fishing for warm water fish I use some sort of popper. I used to use a hookless indicator but after having a LMB smash my indicator I switched. It has paid off a couple of times.

Tim

Panman, that's a good tip, I'll keep it in mind. Jim, just a suggestion, try keeping a pair of hip waders in the trunk, it might help.

Hey everyone - got a chance to spend a couple of hours out on the pond this afternoon with enough dedicated time to go out in the tube. I did try to rake out a path through the weeds to paddle out through, and I'm definitely going to start there when I have to fish from shore.

The fly of the day was my weighted bead-head woolly bugger. However I did try out some Dahlberg Divers and had bass hit those as well as a rubber legged popper when I was searching for bluegill on the surface. Here are some pics:

Attachment 5056Attachment 5057Attachment 5058Attachment 5059Attachment 5060

Not only did I see some hooked fish I believe the fisherman is also hooked. Thanks for sharing.

Tim

nicely done jim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim,
Good to see you out fishing. They may not be trout, but bass and bluegill fishing with a fly rod can be quite addictive.

Keep it up with the photos.

Jeff

Poppers have been slamming lately for me. I locate tem then swig around back and start using your favorite flies. I never seen gills to be to picky most of the time.

I also fish the weed edge, usually with unweighted, slow dropping flies such as a woolly worm, epoxy ant, San Juan worm, etc. as they will lay just under that "weed carpet". I also carry hip waders where I can get an "angle" on that weed edge. When wading a weedy pond, watch for...
Drop offs at the weed edge, particularly if the bottom is muck. I speak from experience (and I KNEW better!).....ask Grubb! :roll:
Mike

Hey Mike - that sounds like a story I gotta hear sometime!

Yeah - the water drops off pretty quick all around this pond so I don't dare try and venture out without being in the tube.

DOG - they have been tearing up poppers here too - I am even able to get them to rise to them in mid-day, although when I'm able to take the float tube out get more fish on woolly buggers than anything else.

man oh man! i wish i could wade for bluegills here....if i tried i'd wind up face to face with a water moccasin or gator lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you guys have it made!

Well - I'm not so sure that we don't have water moccasins here - nice swampy, bog in the back and I've seen plenty of snakes in the pond. One I've ID'd as a northern water snake, but haven't gotten close enough to the other so see for sure what they were.

As far as Gators, they are definitely coming this way! They are in the red river that separates Texas and Oklahoma and will do doubt find a way up river if there's food to be had....and by that I don't mean my legs!