Bluegill fly?

Since I'm just reentering the FF sport, I'm wondering what flies you folks use for Bluegill? My Dad likes to fish the lakes and since he's my number one fishing buddy, I've found a few places where he can sit at the lake and I can fish down a stream to him, but when I get there, I'd like to practice my casting for some BG. Do you use the same flies as you do for trout? And can anyone give me a recipe for tying one?

Thanks,
Brad

[This message has been edited by Weasel (edited 28 April 2005).]

Brad,

Just about any nymph that you would use for trout will work for bluegills. PTs, Hare's Ears, Copper Johns, anything seems to work if it's fished at the correct speed and depth.

Same goes for surface flies. Traditional dries will take lots of surface feeding 'gills.

You can, if you choose to, specialize and find patterns, or devise your own, that are specific to the bluegills in your area. Sometimes a 'hybrid' fly, with colors not normal to the trout stream may be more effective.

Still, you really can't go wrong with a high floating dry fly with a hare's ear or pheasant tail nymph on a dropper behind it.

Good Luck!

Buddy

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[url=HTTP://HOMETOWN.AOL.COM/RSAN2708/INDEX.HTML:616eb]HTTP://HOMETOWN.AOL.COM/RSAN2708/INDEX.HTML[/url:616eb]

what buddy says is true.

I regularly rail the gills on drowned trout dryflies. they seem particularily fond of royal wulffs. or alything else with white in them. it's a blast to sight fish for them w/ light lines. most anything'll do, though you'll have to work a little harder to get the larger ones. small hopper patterns are also excellent. bass seem to like them too.

mgj

Brad,
The guys are right...one other suggestion I may give. Bill Skilton has an excellent book, "My Fly Patterns, Materials, and Techniques". Lots of foam stuff. Simple ties & well described. If you have trouble finding it, email me.
BTW...Where's Youngwood, Pa?..if it's in western Pa, please let me know!
Mike

[This message has been edited by ohiotuber (edited 28 April 2005).]

Try a black foam beetle

Weasel, I have used several fly patterns but two that I always return to are the Adams dry fly and a wooly worm. I tie the worm in several variations. Black with full palmered long hackle and short red bucktail tail or with a short grizzly hackle palmered. I also tire it in olive with a chartreuse buck tail tail trimmed short and with a grizzly hackle collar. I have never failed to catch BG with these. BTW I tie the wooly worms with and with out lead wire weight.
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/047706.jpg

These are my "go to" blue gill" , bream and small black bass flies.

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Michael (Wooly) Woolum
State Certified Hunter Education Instructor
Hickory, MS

Weasel,

Once the water warms up enough to get the brim feeding in shallow water, I have three favorite flies: Number One---Gurgle Pop, Number Two---Gurgle Pop, and Number Three, the Gurgle Pop. These flies are hard to beat in size #10 and #12. White, yellow and chartreuse are my favorites. The gurgle pops are cheap to make, durable (caught over a hundred brim on one fly) and brim will hit it as fast as you can get it in the water on a good day. There are also excellent tying instructions here on FAOL. Good luck to you and your Dad. 8T

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You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it's a real short camping season.

Brad,
To support Wooly, the Wooly worm is a fantastic gill fly. I also like it in yellow & black with grizzly hackle....the MOST important part is that red tail!! I'll have to try chartreuse, but I'm a HUGE believer in red. I prefer my wooly worms unweighted, worked slowly..I seem to get most hits on the drop.
8T..I'll have to check out the Gurgle Pop.
Mike

Dont forget your soft hackles as Bream love them! I prefer a simple foam spider for the top but if you want to catch them on the days when they are not willing to rise up a soft hackle will get your rod bent real nice. I like a little weight or a small bead to get it down and then add a stike indicator and fish the SH with small strips.

I was thinking of trying the SHWAPF this weekend for some gills. I have a few that I tied with a red body and squirl tail back and hackel. If I have time tonight, I thought I would tie a scud hook with a bead head, white chennile for a body, and soft hackle of griz. If the weather hods out this weekend, I'll let you know how I did!

Thanks for all the advice. It's nice to find a lot of people willing to help a semi-newbie out!

Brad

Weazel;

When I first began my WW journey a few years back, I had just found FAOL, and gave the SHWAPF a try. Man, that thing is deadly on Gills. Fish it dry, wet, in the surface, weighted, as a dropper or tandem. . . you name it that will catch em.

I tend to use a black beadhead wooly booger fly 90% of the time. I tie it slightly differently than standard. Use marabou for the tail, but I dub the body with polar fibre and then pick out the dubbing for the thorax. No hackle is needed. I usually use a size 8 3XL hook and a 1/8 black tungsten bead.

Good luck!

Warmouth

Wooly worm in black, chartruese,olive or peacock. Sometimes bead head sometimes not.Foam back "its a Bug" when their feeding on top. TransparAnt in black and chartruese.

I find anything that is yellow with rubber legs work very well for bluegill. The bully fly is amazing for bull gills

Heres a start [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/panfish/part304.html:2608e]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/panfish/part304.html[/url:2608e]

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If flyfishing were a sin, I'de be the devil's right hand man.

I'd second the gurglepop and add the suspending gilbuster as well as a clouser minnow.

Any nymph with rubber legs will attract all kinds of bluegills.

Have fun with the gills.

My go to fly is a foam cricket, with a black hares ear abdomen. I can catch a gill or crappie on almost every cast. Then to change things up a bit I use a gurgle pop.

Isn't this fun! http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/smile.gif

It is true that bluegill will eat many different flies. The same can be said for trout and lots of other species. If you don't care what size you catch, put a midge larva or nymph near just about any cover and you probably will have non-stop action.

To tip the scale a little toward larger fish, you'll first have to find their habitat. Once off the beds, the biggest fish usually hog the best cover/feeding lies. One characteristic these lies seem to have in common is availability of shade. Ledges, rock crevices, overhanging brush, heavy weeds, lily pads, etc. Find those types of features near deeper or open water, and there will be some good sized 'gills hanging out.

Then use a popper or hopper on top, or a mini bait-fish imitation down below, in sizes 8-10. BTW, versions of all patterns mentioned in this thread can be found in the fly of the week archives.

IMHO, to tip the scale toward maximum fun, just throw small poppers tight against lily pads.

There is an article floating around that opines such activity is child-like. If that is so, I hope I never outgrow this Peter Pan complex.

Jim

I throw my cricket patterns right along the edges of lillypads usually the smaller fish hang around them, but I can get like 4-5 hits on one retrieve.

If stuck with one fly to fish bluegill with the rest of my life it would have to be a Madam X.
It can easily be fished on the surface, subsurface and sunken and just seems to produce for me when all else fails.