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!!!