I finished up my latest group of fly fishing merit badge scouts on Saturday. We threw, buggers,nymphs,wooley worms, poppers, ants, spiders, jitterbees… The gills would make a wake from 6’ away to inspect but not take. In an hour and a half 4 scouts and myself only caught three keepers and except for freezer filets we would not have had enough to complete the meal portion of the merit badge. I’ve never seen gills so selective.Any thoughts? FYI ice has been out for two weeks. Water still cold ,but it was too nice Saturday to waste the day not fishing. Thanks
try fishing much slower and smaller.
rick
A friend of ours had sort of the same results Sunday on a pond in Santa Rosa…?
…lee s.
try to retrive in a slow consistent manner. do not slow down. Yesterday teh fish were taking flies slow and softly.
Coach,
Ice has been out longer here in Ohio & we’ve had really great weather for the last week, but I took several 8"-9 1/2" gills yesterday on a #12 wooly worm (yellow w/grizzly hackle, red tail). Worked best on the slow drop after about a 2" strip. As the others said…slooow!
Mike
Have you ever tried to slow down a 12-14 year old boy. I’ve got more lipless bluegills in the pond than in the frying pan.
Favorite fly is a olive or black pearl chenille wooley worm with a peacock herl back, palmered grizzley hackle over wrapped with red wire, a red butt, and a bead head. Usually very effective.
Tye some flies that are really slow sinkers, kinda suspend. These seem to work really well for me when the fish are a little finicky. Dont move them at all let the ever so slightly sinking motion do the work for you.