Been fishing subsurface flies for gills with an 8’ 4wt that I built. If I didn’t see them take the fly I would have no idea that they did. Very light bites. Not alot of experience with bluegill and a fly rod, up until now it has been all smallie fishing for me and you know when a smallie hits. When you fish for bluegills are you waiting for the tick of a bite or are you watching for any movements on the end of your fly line? Maybe I shoud try a lighter rod?
Janus
Janus,
When I fish sub-surface flies for gills, I keep the fly moving with either short strips or a hand roll of the line. As soon as I see the fly line pause, I do a “strip-strike” to hook the fish. If I miss the fish, I keep doing what I was doing, and sometimes will get another fish interested. Insects in the water column are moving, so keeping your fly moving while keeping your line taut will let you see when a strike or nibble occurs, and will replicate what is going on below the surface.
Joe
I normally use a floating line for bluegills. When using subsurface flies, I will let the fly sink a bit, then begin a slow retrieve with jerky movements (using wrist action, not rod-tip manipulation). I think maybe this helps the fly look like a nymph trying to swim. When bluegill takes the fly, you’ll see the end of your floating line stop, or go backwards. Set the hook immediately.
A lighter rod would be OK if you WANT another rod, but that wouldn’t fix your issue. But far be it from me, from stopping another fisherman from having a good reason to buy another fly rod.
I have been fishing gills and crappies with my 4 wt recently as well. One of the tips that I might offer is to use a strike indicator. A very small one at that. I like to use the Lindy float used in crawler harnesses like the ones at this link: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=30490&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults I slide them up the line to the thicker part of the tappered leader then peg them with a flat toothpick.
The second suggestion would be to make sure that your leader is straight and doesn’t have a lot of curl or memory in it, like many times they do straight out of the package. With these coils in it, the fish can take the fly and move several inches without the fly line even moving. If you take the new leader and stretch it some, not alot, just a little pull and keep the tension on it for a 20 seconds or so, much of the coil will come out of it. Some even hang the fly rod outfit by the leader for a little bit since the weight of your outfit will straighten out the leader as well. I have heard that the leather leader straighteners cause heat and therefore will damage the leader or make it weaker. I don’t recomend those types of leader straighteners that work from causing friction, thus heat.
With a straighter leader, each small movement of the fly will be transmitted to the indicator and strikes will be dectected easier. Don’t always look for for the indicator to go under. Any movement, set the hook. Any stop of movement set the hook. What I mean by this last sentance is that if the indicator is floating along in the wind, then it just hesitates for a second, without going under, set the hook.
Every notice to men, fishing the same water, many times out of the same boat, with the same tippet size and same fly, catch two vastly different amounts of fish? Sometimes, it is the action imparted to the fly, but most of the time it is the ability to distinguish between a hit and no hit. If anything is different, set the hook slightly, this doesn’t mean that you have to pull the whole fly out of the water. A little strip set, then let it sit again. Slow down with the fly presentation and have fun. Hope that this helps some.
Rick
I second what fishindave said!
You also might want to try a smaller fly, and lighter leader.
Hope they put a good bend in your new rod,
chris
With our bluegill your line will start going…somewhere and …FAST. Voracious hitters when they are in the mood. Sometimes they do hit(peck) softly however. Depends on their mood. I find if you keep the line moving, you can tell when they hit a LOT better. Move it s l o w l y…unless you have a pack of small ones, then it doesn’t much matter they will hit ‘in competition’ then.
Thanks all. I will pay close attention. I have a 3wt and some old short glass rods that I have been thinking about giving a try. These are smaller gill biggest being 6" tops.
I’ve found strike indicators to help immensely. I’ll bet I miss 40 percent or more of my strikes when using a sinking fly without an indicator.
Watch for the fly line to move forward also. As the fish takes the weight of the fly off the line and moves forward the line can move forward also.
Look for this and you will see it.
Rick
To date, I have chosen not to use indicators, so I can’t speak for that although you’ve been given great advice from some very knowledgeable folks. Joe & FishnDave gave excellent advice…watch that line very closely! There are times I felt almost silly setting the hook when seeing an almost imperceptible movement or pause in the line, & tied into a gill!..Often a very nice one. I’m sure there are times that I’m not watching closely enough & missing a bunch of “light bites” too. Keep the line taut, moving (however slowly) & WATCH that line.
Mike
Janus, I am not “knowledgable folks” or anything approaching it. I’m a clod with a rod. Having said that, a strike indicator is a good friend. Parachute patterns are a particular favorite of mine. You can tye up a pretty neat spider (NOT the beautiful sorts displayed by Don Nicholson) and catch fish on both.
(ed note: I meant that one can tye up a parachute pattern which mimics a spider. Then one can hope to catch flies on both that, acting as a strike indicator, and the sub-surface fly beneath it.)
Ed
Hi Brian
If you learn to detect a light bite by watching the end of your line, then its a natural progression to detect a crappie hit in deep water or anything that requires a sinking line that makes an indicator impractical. As far as the gills go, keep the fly moving slowly with a hand twist retrieve—if you are still getting light bites, move to a lake with bigger gills:rolleyes:—You’re not fishing coe or baldwin lake are you?
mike
Mike it’s the Oxbow Lagoon across from Rocky River by Cedar Point Rd. I drop my kids off near there before work at the babysitter and have 45min once a week to fish it … are alot of gills in there just stunted a bit(more fish than food)…I am going to go back out to Coe soon. Checked out Beyers Pond seemed nice.
I agree with all the good advice that has been given so far but there is a definite limit on line watching. Brim or virtually any other fish can to take your subsurface fly frequently and eject it before you can detect any movement of the line. Watching the line is good, as is a strike indicator, but you are definitely going to miss a large percentage of the “light” takes. I frequently Czech nymph fish docks and other areas where I can see the fish hit the fly and see many takes (I don’t even call them strikes) that involve no line movement at all. 8T 
If you do not want to use an indicator, thats ok!
If you can, you might want to put an inch of color on the end of you fly line, to see it move lightly.
Also a pair of polarized sun glasses help you to see very slight line movement.
I don’t use a floating indicator, but do have a florecent loop on the end of my fly line .
Good fishing,
chris