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flies bluegill

These are my goto Bluegill flies. The middle left is a soft hackle and I use various colors, orange, yellow, green and sometimes natural colors of browns and greens. The popper is a new design for me. I have always used cork in stead of craft foam.

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Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on June 18, 2013 at 9:12am: I'm a grab and go angler, too, Ray.
I manage to fit in a soft sided lunch bag full of worms, though.
plus I maintain a work bin at home. Super easy, less trouble than a canary.

I'm going to give fly flinging another try, though, after a quarter century's hiatus.
I can profess no knowledge, so I pay attention to you guys.
I'LL keep your info on file...

Comment by Ray Ditzenberger on June 18, 2013 at 6:07am: Lee, I see you are down in fishin heaven, FL....You have some great gills down there. Some of the largest gills I ever caught consistantly was on Ocheechobee. Went there to fish bass but saw some nests in that tanic stained water and the bass fishin was over. It was a great day...and very hot in late July.

Comment by Ray Ditzenberger on June 18, 2013 at 6:02am: Yea, I understand the surface preference. I always start out on top and only go subsurface after that fails. I do go to the bottom to check out new patterns sometimes. ......Lordie, I need to go fishin

Comment by Lee on June 18, 2013 at 4:45am: I'm with Paul, not so much dry flies but topwaters in general the visual effect of actually seeing a strike or swirl or even when they just kinda sip one down is what does it for me. Sometimes I know I'd catch more or larger fish subsurface but it's just not as much Fun :)

BTW Paul your blue foam pad reminded me I need to tie up some light blue poppers, we're into Dragonfly season down here and when their on the water the bream wont touch anything else. I've found that a small #10-12 Blue foam popper with a squirrel hair tail and deer hair pulled thru the body instead of rubber legs makes a pretty good easy to cast and durable dragonfly imitation.

Comment by Lee on June 18, 2013 at 4:39am: Well Ray I hope you get feeling better and get back out on the water soon, I had a lil problem last August and was off the water for a month or so. It's no fun.

The water I enjoy fishing down here is clear to Cypress stained and the Chartreus, Green or White bugs and flies seem to catch more fish. Olives, Tans and Browns don't do as well and are hard for me to see.

Comment by Paul Adams on June 18, 2013 at 3:45am: My problem is I've always been a "dry fly" bigot, I really enjoy seeing the visual of a swirl under my fly. I've been fishing poppers and foam spiders for the past 50 years, they are just what I enjoy using. For the past several years, I've been using foam from flip flop sandals. Not only is it cheap and readily available in any color you can imagine (and some you can't), but it preforms extremely well. It floats great, and is tough as nails. It takes a ton of fish to chew one up beyond repair. It also "turns" very nice when making popper bodies

Comment by Ray Ditzenberger on June 17, 2013 at 8:00pm: I tend to be a minimalist fisherman. I like to grab my rod and tackle bag and head to the creek. No muss no fuss. I have soaked a lot of worms in years past myself. I just don't like trying to keep bait around for that last minute adventure. Flies fit in real well. I am sure that sometimes bait will out fish artificials but many times it is the other way around. I do think that day in and day out flies are superier. Fish seldom just nibble at a fly. They hit it quick. Sometimes they do have to look at it for a few seconds though. Surface hits are the most fun and the easiest to see but not always the most productive. There is a knack to detecting subsurface hits sometimes. Other times they will take the fly and run like crazy. I feel that the creek fish are a little more aggressive than still water gills but it is easier to keep a tight line to the fly in still water. There is some techniques to learn but it is not rocket sience. Finding the fish is always the key. If I am searching I will usually work a spot for maybe 5 min. and I will move or do something different if no action. It does not take long when you find them usually. Cold weather can be difficult. They will sometimes school up real tight and stay deep. It is hard to get a fly down to them and takes a lot of patience with a fly. Bait is much better in that situation. If you can find them though you can sit there all day and catch. It is very hard to locate them and if you miss a spot by a couple of feet you will draw a blank. You have to put it right on thier noses. This is true with bait as well as flies. This can be 8 to 15 feet deep so a slip bobber is a must. Or cane pole. This is not good flyfishing conditions but can be done with a sinking line. I have kinda rambled here and I am sure that there are fellas on here that are better than I.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on June 17, 2013 at 7:19pm: Well, Ray, I assure you, I can use all the help I can get.
UNLIKE some of the fishing wizards here at BBG, my greatest challenge
is just figuring out where the fish ARE.

This is why I'm such a big fan of the worm. There is little artifice needed
with the angle worm. If you can but find the fish and put a worm near the proper end, the odds are good that fish will avail itself.

I would like to think I can do well with the fly, but I expect I'll
keep a stash of worms near at hand. Call it insurance.

Ail that aside, I appreciate your work. They look very professional.

Comment by Ray Ditzenberger on June 17, 2013 at 6:41pm: Thank you David. I appreciate the compliment. I posted the flies to share what I generally catch fish on. I hope that it helps some others to be successful on Gills.