Do you love big bluegill?

Rod weight

What weight rod are you guys using when you are on the hunt for big bluegill.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Barclay on June 11, 2010 at 6:22am

I hope it's okay to dredge up an older topic...
I pretty exclusively use a 3 weight. One is a 7' fiberglass that I had a buddy build for me from a Kettle Creek Riffle blank. Great for smaller water.
My other rod is a Redington CT 7'6" 3wt. Feels very similar to a Sage rod to me. Nice mid flexing feel to it.
I use both with Rio Gold WF3.

Permalink Reply by Chris Barclay on June 11, 2010 at 6:25am

I use 3 weights pretty much exclusively.
I have a 7' fiberglass that a buddy built for me on a Kettle Creek Riffle blank. Great for smaller waters.
My main rod is a Redington CT 7'6". A nice mid flexing rod that casts very similarly to the Sage LL.
(sorry for the duplicate post, it didn't look like my first post worked and I couldn't figure out how to delete this one.)

Permalink Reply by Eric on June 22, 2010 at 9:36pm

I know that this is an old post but I just have to mention that I'm now using a 4wt and really love it. It casts like a dream. It seems like the perfect balance between castability and "fish-fightability" (made up term). Anyway, I really like that weight and I'm sticking to it. I also caught a couple smallies on it and it handled those real well. A very fun rod.

Permalink Reply by Keith Owen on July 3, 2010 at 6:58pm

My #1 go to rod is my 8ft TFO 2wt loaded with a 3wt WFF line. I have a WFS line that I use as well. I also really like my little 6.5ft TFO 2wt. I fish it with a 2wt WFF line that I trimmed about 25% of the head off of.

I have a really nice 3wt home-built on a St Croix blank that I like a lot as well. It's better in the wind than the 2 weights. I have three spools for the reel that goes on the 3wt. I have a WFF, WFST and a WFS on the spools so I can swap to whatever the conditions require. This is my "exploration" rig. I like using it when I try out new places.

I picked up a 7ft 8in, Cabela's brand 5 piece, 3 weight, in the Bargin Cave for 30 bucks a while back. I have a nice little reel and 4wt line for it. It all packs up small with a handy box of flies. The whole kit stores under my truck seat. Just for emergencies ya know.

Keith

Permalink Reply by Greg McWilliams on July 4, 2010 at 3:41am

My 8' 2wt. is one of my favoite rods made by Temple Fork Outfitters. Last Monday broke the it about 8" frome the tip. Packaged it up and upsed it on tuesday with a $25, check and had a BRAND NEW rod back by Friday afternoon. This is my favorite brand from now on. I have 4 TFO rods fom 2wt. to 4wt.

Permalink Reply by gillbum on August 26, 2010 at 9:22am

I use a 7 foot Cabelas Clear Creek 1 weight for gills and small trout streams. I like it as the perfect gill rod for me. They stopped making it so I hope it never breaks. For me it's trout in the spring and gills in the hot summer months until fall cools down the water again and the trout don't get stressed. That usually gives me about 3 months of good trout fishing and 3 months of good gill fishing. I use my trout flies (dry flies) to fish for gills. I practice a lot of catch and release for the trout and a lot of catch and eat with the gills. Works for me!

rw

Permalink Reply by Chris Barclay on August 26, 2010 at 9:32am

Gillbum, I just got that same Clear Creek 7' 1 weight in a trade and it's a really fun rod. What line do you use on it?

Permalink Reply by gillbum on August 26, 2010 at 9:49am

Chris,

I know at least a half dozen folks that got that rod when it first came out. They all loved it. I use a Cortland WF2F and have an Orvis WF1F on a spare spool in my trout vest. Generally I'll use 5X tippet but I've gone as light as 6X and even 7X, although gills have never been as fussy as some trout can get. I use dry flies for all my gill fishing.

gillbum

Permalink Reply by Swoab47 on August 26, 2010 at 11:04am

I have a 3wt and a 5wt that I use. If it is nice and calm I will use the 3wt but if there is a breeze then I will grab the 5wt.

Permalink Reply by Heath Shafer on October 17, 2010 at 8:47pm

I fish an Orvis Hydros 6wt. I know it sounds a little big but I've caught many bass while bluegill fishing that would break something smaller. Plus this particular rod is very sensitive so small fish are still fun but I'm usually looking for the big ones anyway.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Workman on June 5, 2011 at 5:25pm

Michael: Yes. Most expensive and probably least researched fishing combo I've ever purchased.

Permalink Reply by Jimmy Hayden on July 17, 2011 at 3:53pm

my fav is a fenwick 6 wt 81/2 ft with a orvis clearwater III & 6wfw , i can get longer distance with this setup sitting in my boat