Purists vs. the bluegill

Gotta love it!
I particularly laughed at the fly boxes!

Now don’t get me wrong I love to fly fish for trout and have a gazillion flies but I also love to fish for bluegill. If a purist ever tied into a big gill they’d poopie in their silk panties.

Since I’m new to warmwater fly fishin’, I only got about three summers of it under my belt.
I am not a purist… I figure you got either fishin’…or not fishin’…I prefer fishin’. when I’m fishin, I usually fish with a rod. Mostly a fly rod, but often a spin rod, depends… thing is… I just plain have a blast fishin’ I take my grandkids and little great nephews and nieces fishin every summer for crappie, we have a great time. we t usually catch 'em til we got shaky knees. Anybody happens by, we give 'em some a whatever we’re usin…we use crappie jigs I been tyin up. or maybe flies, or maybe worms… I like the jigs best ‘cause they last through a bunch a fish. we figure the size of ‘em by comparin them to the palm of grampa’s hand. Grampa’s got big hands. I loved the article… I’m still laughin just thinkin about it. so…here’s the question, what’s a bluegill?, what’s a crappie?, what’s a sunfish?.. kinda like brothers from different mothers aint they?
My Gramaw used to take us after mudcats and sunfish. we used cane poles. like bamboo only different. I don’t even have any silk panties. My fly boxes look like the one on the left, but I only use about three flies, the rest are just so the box don’t look weird when you open it. Last summer I even caught a brown trout on my fly rod with
…shudder… a little piece of an actual worm on a hook… The old boy I ran into on the stream was catchin’, and I was fishin’. for hours. So I walked over and asked him what kinda fly he was usin on his nice Sage 4wt. He looked me up and down, and says “chunka worm” then he says “want one”…I said well YEA…ModocDan :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Define purist :?:

“Define purist”

Read the article

If you’re fishin’, you’re fishin’ as far as I’m concerned. However you do it you’re still fishin.’ There is no such thing as a purist–whatever that means.

It’s funny because its not about a type of fishing but about a type of person.

There are folks who will fish nothing but dry flies, upstream and if they can’t fish it that way, they won’t fish. But they don’t necessarily turn up their noses if others elect to fish wet flies or swing nymphs etc.

I personally believe that Bob is writing about the “purist” as the person who holds contempt for any other than his style. That is how I read it anyways.

To each his own and a hearty dose of the medicine that is laughter - I need a big bottle these days!

You got the gist of the story.
Many types of “purists”(as I see it).
-The dry-fly-only fly fisherperson
-The fly-rod-only fisherperson
-The artificial-lure-only fisherperson
-The bait-casting-reel-only fisherperson
-The bait-only fisherperson
-The live-bait-only fisherperson

Many levels of “purists”. I could care less what that person wants to do but if they ever start spouting off about their way being the only way, that is when I have a problem. I tend to try most all of the types of fishing above, except baitcasting reels. Tried and can’t for the life of me learn to like them(and I’m the type of person that does a LOT of different things)…I fish(fly and spin), golf, ski(alpine and telemark), play softball, ride dirt bikes, bird watch, have a bass boat and a kayak, have a Ford Excursion and a VW New Beetle. So it ain’t like I don’t try differing things;).

Well, I do have to say that my way is the only way:D

If it swims, I’ll try to catch it
If the method is legal, I’ll try it (although I’m not real excited about sticking my arm inside hollow stumps or under rocks to grab a catfish)

I’ve been known to impale various critters on a hook to catch the critters that eat them.
I’ve been known to chunk crank baits from a boat
I’ve been known to drag spinners through the water

My preferred method of fishing is using a fly rod and dry flies (yes, I do consider a popper a dry fly). But anything within reason that will catch fish is something I’ll try.

I’m not a big beer drinker and don’t like to be on the water around drunks but other than that, I’ll fish with anyone who will put up with me (or until they stop putting up with me).

So, I’m a purist of sorts, a fishing purist.

Jeff

I loved it. Greg

We do a lot of bluegill / bream fishing in these parts and I’ve caught them on a lot of different flies. But I’m a thinkin’ that I’ve caught the majority of them on small poppers.

By the way, this month’s featured article, Bill’s “Loathing the Blue Gill”, and showing a photo, is not what we call a bluegill in this neck of the woods … that’s what we call a copper bellied bream.

Dale

All the pictures of ‘bluegills’ I posted in that post('how big is big") came from the same pond. Depending on the time of year/ sunlight the fish can be dramatically different-colored. One of them is almost pink and a lot of them can be very dark, almost black. Even on the same day they cane be very much different colors.

The water is exceedingly clear, spring-fed pond with a very dark-green, ‘mossy’ floor. The water looks to be dark, but it’s the floor that gives it it’s color. I can’t overstate just how clear this water is. YOu can see a rooster tail lure cast out 50 yards away…easily. You can’t let a lure sink to the floor or it will not only not be visible, it will be covered in that “mossy” grass. All flies/lures must be suspended of the bottom or fished on the surface. You could never use a spoon-billed lure and bounce it off the bottom.

I couldn’t agree more…