Is there a good bluegill or warm water fly fishing book out there?
Check this out!!!
Yes. Check out Terry and Roxanne Wilson’s “Bluegill Fly Fishing and Flies.” It’s the bible for bluegill afficionadoes.
i third the book "bluegill…flyfishing & flies by Terry and Roxanne Wilson. theres a lotta great info in there
I also agree with this book bluegill…flyfishing & flies by Terry and Roxanne Wilson as being a great resourse.
You need to check it out.
The Wilsons’ book is a favorite of mine too. Their bass book is pretty good also. Another is Jack Ellis’ “The Sunfishes”.
Yep, those are two good ones. Tom Nixon’s bass and panfish book is a classic, too.
Hi Threedayweekend,
I would add “Bassin With a Flyrod” by Jack Ellis to the list. It has good information in it on bluegill fishing besides stuff on bass. It is an excellent book, but does focus on more on bass rather than bluegills.
Of all of the books listed so far I would pick the two Jack Ellis books and the Wilson’s books as the best, and pick “Sunfishes” and “Bluegill Fly Fishing and Flies” as the pick of the litter. In my view these two books are superb. I have all of the books listed so far, and have read them all, except have not yet completely finished reading “Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Bass and Panfish” by Tom Nixon, but I have skimmed the portions of that book that I have not yet completed.
Tom Nixon’s book is primarily on fly TYING for bass and panfish. He also has quite a bit on equipment, but that information is a bit dated by now.
I do have a couple of other thoughts on the Nixon book, that make it less desirable for me. He has only 35 to 40 pages dedicated to just “fishing” for bass and panfish. If you are an absolute beginner it is pretty good. If you are an experienced fly tier and know enough about fly fishing equipment, then the book primarily covers things you already know quite a bit about. It has been out of print for some time, and is a bit pricy compared to the others. (I bought my copy a few weeks ago on Ebay, after being out bid for a couple of years. I just refused to pay $40 or more (with delivery) to get a copy of the book. At times the book went for well more than that, and I have seen it priced in used book stores for over $100.)
There are quite a few books out there on “Fishing” for panfish. Many of these have very good information in them, but they focus on spin fishing, etc. They are very applicable to fly fishing though. Some do have sections on fly fishing in them. The same can be said for lake fishing. Most of the books on lake fishing are for trout, but the information on how to fly fish lakes is very applicable for bluegill. Many of these books are very worth reading.
Regards,
Gandolf
Nixon’s book is typically obtainable through your library system. That’s how I found a copy to read. The beauty of Nixon’s book is in the creativity of the flies, and his writing of his being so stubborn in sticking with fly fishing in face of the overwhelming encroachment of the entire spin fishing craze. And, that he preferred warmwater to other species. The Wilson’s book is great, although I’ve yet to catch a single gill on their glorious sinking spider. A friend, Wrangler from this site, does extremely well with it, and we can fish from his boat with him catching gills and me doing nothing. So I switch flies so I can keep up with him ? which is impossible. Fishing with either Wrangler or my wife is humbling, and Wrangler says his catch ration pales when compared to that of his wife. Go figure!
Threeday weekend,
I belive I have both of the books recommended (plus others) in excellent condition that I would be willing to part with. Let me know if you’re interested and we can come to an agreement. your thoughts…
Jim Smith
Book of the Black Bass by Dr. James A. Henshall (1881)
Black Bass and the Fly Rod by Charles Waterman
In addition to the Wilson’s book, which many have recommended and I agree is a good one, I just finished reading “catching Bluegill” by John Tertuliani and I was very impressed with it. I believe it just came out in 2008 but it has plenty of sound advice and reasonable looking patterns (I have not tried any out yet as our bluegills don’t seem to start taking flies until sometime in March).
Greybeard