Sophisticated Bream

[otter]

I had a pretty bad day casting in the wind at a local lake yesterday, and as a result I decorated several bushes with my poppers and jitterbees. I found myself re-rigging at dusk, when I should have been fishing, so I grabbed a topwater trout fly and tied it on just to have something atop the water. It was a #12 adams to be exact.

Those bream went crazy. I hooked fat little BG's one after another for a good 15 minutes and they had been spooky all day. I never think about it, but here in Louisiana our mosquitos run about size 10-12, and we have legions of them. This must be a primary food source.

Next time you have spooky panfish drop a trout fly on them.

[Jim Hatch]

Hi Otter,

I often fish dry flies for blue gills
with good results. Thursday of last week
I caught and released quite a few on one
of RW's rainbow variants. It was a hoot.
Truth be known, trout and bluegills often
order from the same menu. If you were to
check a hatch chart of both waters, you
would see a lot of the same bugs. Warm
regards, Jim

[beadleech]

The only reasons I don't use dry flies more often for panfish are:
1.) They're really rough on the fly.
2.) Whereas a trout fisherman may catch a half dozen or so trout at a sitting one can often catch 2 or 3 dozen panfish. You can go thru a LOT of flies ifn' you don't tie your own [or trade for 'em ].
3.) You can 'often' catch 'em on foam flies or poppers that don't have to be dried/replaced after each fish.

donald

[Jim Hatch]

Hey Donald,

If you like to fish dries, you need to
talk RW into a swap. His rainbow variant
has about 4 hackles on it and floats like
a cork. I can catch dozens of fish on it
and still get it to float with a couple of
false casts.*G* Warm regards, Jim

[northjerseyflyguy]

I've only used dry flies from a store on bluegills once, and I know what you mean about being rough on the flies. Since that "learning experience" I've started tying some modified dries for picky bluegills. Basically they're the same as regular trout flies, but with the following substitutions

* chenille instead of dubbing
* size 12 and up hooks only
* reinforce fragile parts like hackles with a few wraps of thread or a dab of glue before wrapping.
* mylar instead of metal for ribbing
* hair instead of feather for tails
* the heavy construction usually necessitates extra hackle and fly dressing

The reinforcement is far from fail-safe, but it usually helps my flies get through a few more fish. These ain't pretty flies, but they work.

[James Smith]

If you want to try dries, I second Jim Hatch's vote for the flies RW tied for him. I watched Jim catch at least 100 fish on one of these flies and it still looked great and was going strong. They were like an old Timex watch, they took a licking, but they kept on ticking. Great pattern RW.

Jim Smith

[gqualls]

Not trying to hijack the thread or nothing like that .... but is there any way to get a recipe for this rainbow variant? Also, I do not know "RW"; if I did I would email him myself and ask these questions. Any time someone can catch 100 bluegill on a fly and still use it, and it still floats .... well, I'd like to tie several of those for my own box. Thanks,

Greg

[This message has been edited by gqualls (edited 19 May 2006).]

[irondragon013]

When I tie dries for panfish I use a strip of foam wrapped as the body. I do this with Elk Hair Caddis and It works great and holds well. I coat the foam in head cement to make it fold up better. I still have a white mayfly type fly that I did this on and caught probly 25-50 fish on and still good to go another round too.
Hope this helps,
Steven

------------------
"Just when I've caught a nice trout and feeling very proud of my fly fishing ability, my feet fly out from under me and there I sit, wet, flustered and properly humiliated by the Fly Fishing gods."
Jimmy Moore, "Taken Down a Notch or Two"

[otter]

Mr. RW...whoever you are...would you consider posting your variant pattern?

I've been playing with some craft foam in an attempt to make a lower-profile bream bug that still looks really "buggy" like a trout fly. I stumbled across this pattern on the www, and I've had some success with it. I want to try the bigger version for bass. Its called Pete's Gurgle Pop Popper, check it out: [url=http://www.fishingwithflies.com/Pete'sGurgle-PopPopper.html:d48f1]http://www.fishingwithflies.com/Pete'sGurgle-PopPopper.html[/url:d48f1]

I've caught several bream-skis with it and the flies tie fast and hold up well. Its a buggly lookin' little devil too.

otter.

[beadleech]

Otter - good link.

When I tie panfish dry flies I generally use:
1. hair for tails - often moose mane.
2. body, often including foam in one form or another.
3. no "wings" - I've not found them. necessary and they tear up easily.
4. soak fly in "watershed".
5. usually 14 or 12; sometimes 10.

donald