Sitting here pondering the important things in life…
Everyone has their own way of looking at things, as well as their own preferred method of fishing for bluegills. Some folks use nothing but poppers, some use standard “match the hatch” trout flies, and lots of “in between”… You get the idea.
I find it interesting to look at the scraps in my trash sack from time to time. Sometimes it’s full of very bright colors, sometimes naturals. It tells a lot about what I’ve been up to!
When it comes to bluegill flies, do you tend to tie more natural-colored stuff, bright eye-catchers, or are you somewhere in the middle?
I start with the orange or yellow spider but if the fish are feeding on the surface and ignoring them there always some irresistables and wulfs in the box as well as some midges and caddis.
Yes. It depends on the situation, but I keep a good mix of them all. Most often, though, I find myself primarily on the brown/olive/black range. Bright yellow and pink are occasionally the ticket.
I find that it often depends on the water conditions and clarity. Black with some grizzly contrast is a go-to color combination for me as it works in a wide variety of water conditions. I will switch to yellow or white as it gets closer to dusk or if the darker colors aren’t producing. If I look at my fly box, the bluegill/bream flies tend to be more of the darker/natural colors and the Crappie flies are bright oranges, purples, whites and chartruese.
Darker natural tones in darker water/darker days and bright flashy stuff on sunny days/clear water. But, having said that, I kind of enjoy matching the hatch when there is a particular bug going on. For instance, right now around here the black caddises are coming off nicely so I’m going to sit down this evening and tie some black elk hairs. In June when the hexes start it’ll be big yellow dry flies fished at dusk and predawn.
I also watch the water. In good clear water with good light I like the natural colors, but when the water is colored or low light I go just as bright as I can. But a quick look at my bluegill box shows a lot more of the natural colors.
Steve:
I notice you and I have exactly the opposite approach to the situation. In cloudy water I try to present as solid a silhouette as possibly where you try to catch what little light is getting through. I know my way works for me. I think next time I might have to try yours just for the sake of the experiment and compare notes.
You really gotta have both. Living in a town with numerous public ponds, I’ve noticed each pond has its own personality. In certain ponds, oranges or yellows work well most of the time. In others, natural colors work better. And then…there are those days when the fish decide to NOT follow their own rules.
And like Rick Z said…there is often a difference between what typically works best for early season-mid season-and late season.
Its fun trying to solve the riddle each trip. Sometimes it seems they’ll take anything. Other times they can be VERY picky.
General rule of thumb says that the more stained the water, the darker the fly. HOWEVER, yellow, back, & chartreuse seem to work in almost ALL water clarity. If you have a selection of white, yellow, black, olive & chartreuse in sizes from 8 through 16, you’re good to go for 'gills. I prefer white & yellow. Hint: a touch of red never hurts (especially with black), nor does an under body of peacock herl.
For crappie, I am a FREAK for pink heads & white or black bodies!
Mike
I tend to agree with Tuber, dark colors project a better siloheutte in low light periods, I add a little red to almost all warmwater flies. But I paint a lot of white, charteuse and yellow bodies also.
For the bass & gill pond I normally fish, color is one of the lowest things on the list of priorities, with style, shape, and action easily trumping.
That said, my Absolute go-to fly for this pond is a little nymphy thing I created. Imagine a bitch creek nymph, but small. A 14. But black and bright green woven micro chenille for the body, black hackle, no legs, a short tail of 2 krystal flash fibers, and a short clipped stack of glow in the dark flashabou as a wing.
Got the flash for when its needed, the black, the bright, the buggy, and the bizzare…all in one #14 nymph.
What I’ve observed is that the brighter colors catch more/smaller fish. The big gills typically are caught on natural colors.
That is except for chartreuse, it seems to work well for all size fish all the time.
It depends on the situation, but I keep a good mix of them all. Most often, though, I find myself primarily on the brown/olive/black range. Bright yellow and pink are occasionally the ticket.