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 dave kensinger on August 8, 2011 at 6:07pm

i love my 2 and 3 wt rods for bluegills if there are bass in the area ill switch to a 5 wt but mostly the small wts

Permalink Reply by Tim C. Homesley on August 14, 2011 at 7:33am

I fish a 2wt bamboo, and a 4 wt bamboo for bluegill, I enjoy the fight I get with the bamboo fly rods, I also use several 4 and 5 wt fiberglass fly rods, for gills and crappie.

just a simple fly reel works best for me, you just can't tear up an old single action spring and pawl type fly reel

Permalink Reply by Robert Bowles on November 4, 2011 at 10:14am

I use a 7 1/2 ft 4 wt, medium action rod

Permalink Reply by Jim Ducy on November 29, 2011 at 1:31am

I like a medfast 8 1/2 -9 1/2 4wt with a Riogrand floating line in Camo with a poly leader and 3 1/2 FT

6# mono tippet. I have a 5wt Cortland blue intermediate line that I use quite a lot with this set-up.

Jim Ducy

Permalink Reply by JBplusThuy on November 30, 2011 at 12:03pm

I only have one rod, so I'm using a 9-foot 5-weight. One evening a while after sunset I cast a foam beetle up against the rip rap (I was in a float tube) and started my retrieve. A foot or 2 from the bank a 13" largemouth hit it. At first I didn't know it was a bass, I thought it was a big 'gill, and it got right underneath my tube and I couldn't lift it. I thought I was wrapped around the tree growing in the water next to the boat dock, but then it moved and I was surprised to see it was a bass when I got it up to my tube.

Don't know how that fight would have turned out if I'd been using a 2- or 3-weight.

Permalink Reply by Gillbuster on January 3, 2012 at 7:47pm

I guess I am old school... I fish with a Fiberglass Shakpeare Wonderods FY310 5wt and FY600 5wt... both loaded with 5wt line. They are over 40-50 years old & have caught 1000's of fish over the years. They are durable, tuff and I beat the heck out them... I fish them hard as you can see...

Permalink Reply by Chris Barclay on January 3, 2012 at 8:18pm

That's an awesome picture! I bet those rods are fun too.

Permalink Reply by dave kensinger on January 3, 2012 at 9:07pm

I love catching big blue gills on my 2 and 3 wt rods but i also use a old berkly parametric that i got when i came home from the service and it still catches fish ,it has that nice soft feel like a bamboo but the tuffness of fiberglass. Here is a pic over 40 years old and like new [IMG]http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk72/bowmandjk/berkleypara-metri...[/IMG] [IMG]http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk72/bowmandjk/berkleypara-metri...[/IMG]

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photobucket_com.htm, 36 KB

Permalink Reply by Gillbuster on January 3, 2012 at 9:56pm

Those were great rods. My dear friend loves those old Berkley's (Curt Gowdy models) I just love old Glass rods... I fish hard and have broken several graphites You can pick up these rods for $25-50 and fish the heck out of them... these 2 panfish rods I use I use for trout and other panfish.. even tho they are 5wts, I can cast 3-6 wt line with them... What is great about these rods is with the new fly line technology today it really brings these rods back to life... thanks for sharing

Permalink Reply by DAVID L EITUTIS on January 20, 2012 at 11:47am

MAN WHAT A GREAT PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been usesing these old wonderods for YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYears and no problems at all . Every time I see one in decent shape I get it and add to my collection. These older flyrods are a true joy to use and takes us all back to another place in time, much slower, less stressful, low tech way of doing things! I see lots of folks in pics in magazines dressed up like wanna be astronauts with every high tech gadget imaginable and make me wonder if they are trying to impress or actually enjoy themselves. I guess to each his own and live and let live .
TOOTY

Permalink Reply by JBplusThuy on January 20, 2012 at 12:56pm

Those old rods are definitely great, that's why old Fenwick glass rods fetch such a good price. Some of that is because of collectors/speculators, but a lot of people just like to fish with them.

I keep looking for one of the 8.5 or 9 foot Nightcrawler Secrets spinning rods that were built on Fenwick fly rod blanks (8 or 9 weight, I think), or an old blank that I can have built into one. Almost got one of the rods on eBay most of a year ago, but was outbid.

Great photo!

Permalink Reply by Greg McWilliams on January 21, 2012 at 7:23pm

That is an AWESOME shot!!!! I use to have a Wonder Spinning rod was my favorite rod of all times but it went the way of the BUFFALO at a bass tourneyment!!! Would love to try a fly rod by them!!!! I use an 8' 2 wt. can cast it all day long!!!!!! But I love the slow action of fiberglass!!!!