I’ve found the royal wulff to be very good for BG as well.
Fish more, work less!
I caught 25 bluegill last night. Sorry, I wasn’t using a top water fly.
I tie a girdle bug, just like in the FOAL archives. Mine are black, with Flourescent yellow legs. I weight them, and fish under an indicator.
It is my go to fly, for blue gill ponds.
Like the fellow who taught me the pattern, I keep lots of colors, but I fish the black with the flourescent yellow legs.
Good luck!
Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you’re swinging. Duke Snider
How often should I recast the Gurgle-Pop? Also, do you reel the fish in, or pull them in by grabbing the line? Thanks
FlyFishZak
Fish any fly just in the area you know fish are. That could be all the way to the rod or just a few feet, watch the water.
I would suggest you reel the fish in if you are going to saltwater fish also.
It is a good habit to get into and if you are proficient with reeling in the smaller fish you not get caught off guard when a big fish is on.
Stay safe in this storm that is coming.
Harold
I am actually up in Illinois for vacation. I sure hope it doesn’t hit MS though.
WHIRLPOOL WARNING !!!
“I am still very much a novice myself, but IMHO I believe that the Deerhair Caddis is the BEST dry fly for bluegill on the planet!! I was in Tennessee 2 weeks ago and I was catching them like crazy on the Duck River near Shelbyville. I was fishing in the mid morning under overhanging trees.”
I know that water well and there is some very good fishing there. Let me post a word of warning. Just downstream from the downtown bridge (which is just downstream from the old dam) is the inlet for the municipal water supply. There is a trio of very large pumps on the other side of the flood wall. (In other words, not visable from the river.) The pool, which appears to be a great place to fish, is actually there to provide a spot to pump water from. When those pumps are on, which seems to be whenever I’ve seen it, then there is a whirlpool that I have seen catch and hold a fair-sized john boat. DON’T WADE NEAR THERE!!! I’ve seen a tree trunk sucked under there. Be forewarned. (Maybe it would be a good idea to add a section on water hazzards for fishermen…)
Ed
This is my first post and I thought it would be the best place to start. I’m near KC, MO and I fish bluegill and pumpkinseeds a lot. The best fly I’ve found for them is a wooly worm tied on a #8/#10 hook (bigger is harder for gills to get in their mouth), black thread, a fat blue/gray wool body (sparkle yarn works, too), and a furnace hackle -about a size or 2 too big- palmered up the length. Most times I rib the body with the black thread, your choice, and ugliness doesn’t matter. I also flatten the barb, it’s not required.
Fish this fly wet/submerged using 4-6 inch strips while at the same time moving your rod tip to one side ever so often to speed up the strip. This causes a swimming action in the oversized hackle which drives our gills and seeds absolutely nuts! I use a floating line since gills/seeds hang just a couple feet under the surface.
I’ve noticed that I often get a strike while raising the rod for another cast, so I’ve learned to raise the rod carefully without losing the load for the cast. This is also the best method for setting the hook. Use the tip of your fly line as a strike indicator, when it begins to move away from you, raise the rod while keeping ‘mild’ tension on your line. Keep the rod tip high and counter the fish’s movements to the right or left. Gills and seeds are small enough that it’s personal preference whether you land them on the reel or not.
Enjoy the fight and good luck!
Hi MOturkE. Welcome to the FAOL WW madness! Sounds like you’ve had a tug or two on your line. 
Even though you are new here don’t be bashful about posting. It’s all about sharing. Some things work better for some fishers than others. The more information we share here, the more likely we will help someone find a new way.
Welcome aboard!
Jim
P.S. Be wary of those saltwater bums
Thanks EdD!!!
Maybe we can fish together sometime.
AC
Jitterbee…yea a Jitterbee. It is a favorite fly of mine also. Some people are tying them with bead chain eyes rather than the traditional gold bead. Both work well for me. Right now with the water here so warm I am useing one that is black and chartreus. I let is sink all the way and strip the line in painfully slow.
It really catches gills.
Kahuna
Grab your pig?s feet, bread, and gin,
there?s plenty in the kitchen.
I wonder what the poor people are eating
tonight?
Albert J.“Fats” Waller
Guys, I noticed some of you mentioning your favorite bluegill fly?? Some of you are in it already but those that aren’t you should check out my "GO-TO-Fly Swap for blue gill under the SWAP Forums.
Kahuna
Grab your pig?s feet, bread, and gin,
there?s plenty in the kitchen.
I wonder what the poor people are eating
tonight?
Albert J.“Fats” Waller
Like Ric B I have success with dry flies particularly Royal Wulff size 12 and 14. If you tie your own a recent tying tip in the fly tying section worth considering is to tie on longer shanked hooks 4 to 6x leaving plenty of room near the eye to grab the hook for extracting.
My go to is the elk hair caddis but before I use that I throw a Spook and let it sit for thirty seconds or so. If you don’t get a bite then they don’t want the fly or aren’t there.
I am new to the forum and a fairly novice fly fisherman. And a beginning fly tyer.
I started catching bluegills in a small neighborhood pond recently. I noticed that while they occasionally hit a dry fly, much more often, the struck just after I would strip the fly below the surface.
So then I started using wet flies- bam! That really worked.
and jsut this morning, I caught my first one on a popper. then a big bass hit it and broke the line. I am hooked, not the fish.
doesn’t take long getting hooked on this stuff. A fine drug, fly fishing. Got out last night for about two hours after a weekend from Hades came back completely refreshed. completely. And my wife had my canoe straps up in Duluth, so i was doing some bank casting. JGW
After reading this, it brought to mind a conversation I had with an older fellow in our local fly fishing club. He told me that all the warm water fly fishing he’s done thru the years he has always fished with black flies. No mater what the pattern was he wanted it black. It always worked for him. I’ve yet to try it that way myself.
Rusty <><