Bluegill

Not all people who fish for bluegill are beer drinking, pickup truck driving, uncouth rednecks. (well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad:D)

I thought Bob’s Purist vs. the Bluegill article was funny. The more the purists think of bluegill as being beneath their fly fishing dignity, well, that just leaves more room on the shore for me to stand and cast and that many more bluegill in the pond/lake/stream for me to catch.

Yep, all you trout purists, bluegill fishin ain’t no fun. Just a bunch of slobs out there drowin’ worms and impaling minnows. Nothing to look at over here.

Jeff

Jeff: You sure wasted your time with this post. Them purists wouldn’t stoop to reading the warm water forum - or would they? (lol).

Tim

I send folks to the city settling ponds, when they ask me where I fish.
I also tell them I hook them in the mouth when they ask where I catch them.
Fewer folks fish for crappies and that works for me.

Rick

Certainly a funny article.

I believe that the bluegill is the perfect fly rod quarry.

Trout are too easy to catch and weak fighters. That’s why we need all the restrictions, to make it harder to catch what is basically an ‘easy’ fish. A ball of velveeta on a hook would deplete most of the ‘blue ribbon’ trout waters within a day or two…

The bluegill, on the other hand, is strong. Lives in lots of differing water conditions (no worries about perfectly clean water for the delicate little trout to survive in). You can catch bluegills in ponds, lakes, streams and rivers in all of the lower 48 states, as well as in many countries around the world.

The only knock against the bluegill is that it doesn’t grow very large. They are prolific, though, and you’ll seldom hear anyone complaining that people are actually keeping and eating some bluegills.

I think it’s time that we started looking to a hardy prolific fish like the bluegill, rather than the delicate weakling trouts, as the main focus of our sport.

Alas, though, the traditionalists among us, mired as they are in the crumbling past, will keep championing the salmonids. I mean, trout have always been ‘the’ fly rod fish. Why in world would anyone want to even consider a better alternative?

Of course, the ‘traditionalists’ probably won’t even see this. It’s on a computer screen…they are still using the telegraph and have to hitch up the old mare to the buggy to even get to the water, right?

Lets just keep the bluegill our secret.

Buddy

Long live the fuzzy bugger!!!

Don’t forget we are known to pee in the pond, so if you accidentally catch one throw it back you sure would not want to eat it.

Jeff,

I drink beer, drive a pickup truck, scratch when and where it itches, belch out loud and all those things a good ole red-neck does. Does that qualify me a bluegill fisherman? You are right, those pesky little bluegills are just pike bait. No class at all.
Purist need not apply. I won’t even let a purist in my boat for fear they would puke on my boat when I hand them the spikes to tip their fly with.

A uncouth old crumudgeon bluegill fisherman

fishbum

I love reading Bob’s articles but I think he left something out of this one, I bet that the enlightened purist’s first fish was probably a bluegill, but in his efforts to remain stylish among fishing’s elites he forgot just how much fun can be found in an old farm pond.

I drink beer, drive a pickup truck, scratch when and where it itches, belch out loud and all those things a good ole red-neck does.

Oh Fishbum, I’m in shock. That a buuegill fisherman would belch out loud. Next thing someone is going to say is he/she smokes a cigar while fishing for bluegill.

Oops did I say that? Fuente anyone? :slight_smile:

Jeff

I havn’t smoked since 91 but there was a time when i did indeed smoke cigars while fishing for bluegills. Chewed tobaco and spit in the water too. I guess I’m bad.

fishbum

Yeah - I’ve been practically in tears all morning thinking about what I am missing out on.

I’d give up those pretty trouts from those sparkling clear free flowing western rivers, mountain streams running through deep canyons with all that foaming pocket water, those striking riffles, glass smooth runs and big deep pools, and beautiful mountain lakes surrounded by towering peaks and broken ridgelines in a minute to go stomp around some farm pond so I could pee in it and toss another beer can on the bank to catch that little round fish that some folks even think tastes good !!

But I can’t - so I guess I’ll just have to read about it on the Warm Water Forum and then go out and sulk over those trouts, try to ignore the settings I have to put up with, yell at the wildlife out of frustration at having to release another 18" brown or some dimwitted rainbow or cutthroat, and pick up the litter the worm dunkers ( most of whom are cousins to panfish fisherman, so I’m told by the elite purists ) leave.

John

P.S. Do I still have permission to read the Warm Water Forum ?? Please !!

"P.S. Do I still have permission to read the Warm Water Forum ?? Please !! "

the whole post was too long to copy and paste but

ROFLMBO

Eric

I love it!!!

  1. I don’t own a pick-up truck…does a Jeep qualify?
  2. Of the ponds I fish, one of the owners (my good buddy Ned) will see me pull up, bring his folding chair with the drink holder in the arm (which I gave him), bring his spinning rod/reel & Berkeley’s Gulp worms (all of which I gave him), pull my cooler of beer out of the Jeep & catch some gills! Me with the fly rod & Ned with the spinning rod. Now we ARE purists, aren’t we?

Here’s Ned & his buddy Tori comparing gills…

Mikey

The lake my folks have a summer place on give up a good number of gills that cross the lb mark. Even on my 5 wt they are a load to cope with and hard to trick into biting.

I love my time with the gills but alone on a stream that looks better than a post card…well anyway.

Anyone who turns thier nose up to pan fishing especially on a 3-4 wt and a good beer batter near by is a fool. Or better yet are right and should leave all that to me.

Stereotyping and generalizing are a couple of my pet peeves. I took a trout guide out last week who couldn’t cast more than 30 feet. He had trouble handling a 6-weight with a sinktip line and weighted fly. He was thrilled to death to catch a few ladyfish. Of course, that’s about all he could handle.

People tend to make fun of things that are foreign to them or things they cannot do. I’ll guarantee you I could take many savvy trout anglers to my local lake and they’d have all sorts of trouble scratching out a few bluegill, speckled perch or shellcracker.

And they’d have a heckuva time adjusting to oscar and Mayan cichlids in The Everglades.

Doesn’t make them poor anglers. They’d just have to get the knack.

Trout fishing is pretty cool IMHO. I don’t knock trout anglers and I’m sure most don’t knock warmwater.

Steve,
I think so far it’s all been in good fun, kind of like the Ford vs. Chevy debates.

I’m fortunate that I get to fish for trout n the small freestone streams of the Smokey Mountains and some tailwaters. However, my favorite fishing is at the local pond for bass and bluegill.

To be honest, the only thing that I’m a purist about is the pure enjoyment I get fishing.

Heck, I’ve even been known to pick up a spinning rod and toss some rooster tails, plastic worms and crank baits around.

Jeff

I consider myself to be a bluegill purist. You can decide for yourself what that might mean in the big picture. :smiley:

Rick

I have to say that I to love the panfish. It is just pure fun and alway avalible to those that don’t have time to make the big trip. No I don’t think that you have to be a redneck or drink beer to enjoy bluegill. Being a high school teacher, and haveing a float tube and I fly pole make hunting for gills worth the hunt.
I would never bash anyone type of fishing because I love t just fish, but don’t bash the bluegill fisherman because we all started some where and more than likly the bluegill gave most of us our first taste of fishing and in some cases of fish.

Fish on you beer belly redneck and even the none red necks.

Mikey -

Eloquently said - gill fishing is child’s play.

John

P.S. Tori can go fishing with me any time. Just tell her not to beat me up too badly.

Quote: “Bluegill romance in a bed at least annually and with different partners.” LOL
Doug

Seriously, folks, I would love to have the opportunity to catch all the different warmwater species you guys chase, write about, and post pics of. We do have a few places with bass, panfish and carp around here, but for the most part they are not wadable.

You all do get to play with some beautiful fish, and those exotic fish down in Florida are something else. Same could be said of the saltwater species. A whole new set of skills and strategy for a trout guy, for sure. Maybe something I can get to next year ??

In the meantime, I’ll keep reading the Warm water Forum, and the Saltwater Forum, knowing it will help me in the trout fishing we have locally, and prepare me for the opportunity for a new challenge, if and when I get the chance.

John