What are your favorite bluegill flies? I’m looking for some new flies to tie and different ideas to try out. I am in need of things to ponder! The shack nasties are getting bad… I have a half dozen or so proven patterns, but if I only used what I KNEW worked, things would get boring quickly! Let’s hear what you’ve got!
i use this one all year round and dont get bored;)
I like this one. Tim
Also look in the Fly of the Week for the Black Widow. That has worked good for me.
Crazy charlies, particularly pink, my best producer for crappie and gills. Tied in a size 4 or 6 they are really awesome. You’ll get one from me in the Kansas Fish-In swap QK.
Steve
Predator, if you want the complete tying instructions with picture send me a pm. You might be able to find it with a search of the web as well.
I like a black Montana Nymph with a chartreuse thorax. I tie these on a size 10 3906B, 9671 or 9672 hook. No weight. Don’t have a pic but it is a pretty simple tie.
Bream Killers have been good to me. Medium chenille on a No. 8 aberdeen with rubber legs and a squirrel tail wing. Black, brown, olive fished under a popper or foam hopper. This is a good base to add to, tails, shucks, eyes,
Cap Spiders in black and olive work well for me. I use the striped black and white legs and a 1/124 and 1/80 jig head.
Rick
Little woven nymph…few strands of krystal flash as a tail, body of woven micro chenille (black on top, fluorescent green on bottom), black hackle. Many, many 50+ gill days on ponds around here.
briminators, grhe, red squirrel nymph and al ritt’s damsel nymph fly.
Hi Quivira,
I like bluegill spiders in #10 and #12, with favorite colors being chartreuse, yellow, peach, and a friend liked black. I tie them on Mustad 9672s, but am thinking about switching to Mustad 94831s because the lighter weight of the 94831 wil help them float better.
Another favorite is the olive and orange, a hackleless woolly bugger with a tiny bead head, an orange tail and an olvie body. The sizes for these are again #10 and #12s. Beyound these favorite two I also frequently fish cap spiders, pheasant tails, gold ribbed hare’s ears, the gray hackle peacock, dry flies to match what ever mayfly is hatching, ants, Griffeths gnats if midges are on, and #10 or #12 poppers.
Regards,
Gandolf
SWHAPF, tied with Fly Tiers Dungeon’s H2O Flash, in Red, Green, and Baitfish. I use then mostly in size 12’s, but some down to size 16 for when I can’t find the bigger fish.
Kirk
Zac,
You’ve probably already tied everything I use.
-Gurgle-Pop for topwater
-Boa Yarn Leeches (yellow, orange, black, brown, white…all good colors). I tie these on a nymph or streamer hook, and fish them unweighted most of the time.
-SHWAPF…(dark-colored chenille body w/ Krystal Flash back/wing is my favorite color combo. But pink-and-white is an excellent choice right at ice-out when the waters are cold and muddy)
-size 10 Craft Fur Clouser Deep Minnow tied with small barbell or bead-chain eyes (white w/ red Krystal Flash is a favorite combo, but other colors work)
-Woolly Buggers, both with and w/o hackle…Purple is a really good color, but again, other colors work well too.
-modified Cap Spiders…I use a small glass beadhead instead of a jighead. This allows the fly to sink more slowly, which can be an excellent presentation.
-Mohair Leeches…I like brown or reddish brown with a bit of black rabbit fur as a tail.
I love Ed Story’s Cracklebacks tied with Uni-stretch bodies instead of the original turkey quill fibers:
http://www.danica.com/flytier/bhaugh/crackleback.htm
Red, yellow, orange all work great. Use it as a dry util you catch a few, then use it as a wet. Bluegills don’t care.
Regards,
Scott
Hi Quivira,
Rick has written four excellent articles on his favorite flies. To find the articles go to features section, then the panfish section, then the archives of panfish, finally go back down the list of articles and you will find four articles on Ricks favorite flies. There two articles on bluegill flies, and two articles on crappie flies. These articles are really worth reading, and have flies that are tested. I have tied several of them.
Regards,
Gandolf
I went to a mini-class tonight and was “teased” with crochet body flies. The guy did up a #14 soft hackle using 2 colors of floss for a body… They look COOL! After coming home, I found a couple step-by-steps online. Gonna have to try it out, and have to go back next month for the full demo.
I’ve got three favorites that account for nearly 100% of my brim and small bass fishing. Size #10 Gurgle pops in white. Size #10 Gurgle Pops in yellow. Size #10 Gurgle Pops in chartreuse. I do hang a small #14-#12 nymph off the bend of the Gurgle Pop’s hook when things get slow. 8T 
Size 8 natural pinkey.
I tie a fly that I named the heretic, It’s probably not an origanal pattern but I didn’t base it off anything and hadn’t seen any like it when i started tying them several years ago. I named it the heretic because it was origanally tied as an alternative to what a friend of mine refered to as the heresy fly ( a micro plastic tube bait with a 1/80th ounce jighead inside). I’ll try to post up a picture tomorrow, and you’ll get one in the kansas fish-in swap.
Small Poppers! But dragon fly nymphs that floats have gotten my top 3 biggest gills.