Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Do you love big bluegill?

hey guys im new to this site but have been fly fishing for about 11 years.  When i was first starting out with the fly rod i started out on a pond catching bluegills but never had any of the kind of luck you all have had.  Im on here looking for advice on how to find the size and quality of bluegills you guys catch.  Im living in north carolina right now so if anyone knows any good places to try around the fayetteville area i would appreciate the help.  If not any tips you guys can give me to get started in chasing the trophy bluegills will be put well to work.  Thanks guys,

Andy

Views: 435

Replies to This Discussion

Welcome to BBG, Andrew. I don't know about North Carolina, but here small city lakes are what I like to fish. I fish a lot with an intermediate sinking line and work nymphs, small minnow patterns, along weed lines, structure, but in my favorite lake I catch them in the middle and suspended. Right now poppers are working great and the same places are where to target. Stay tuned to this site and check often, ask questions everyone here is happy to share!!!!! You have to check often because it changes hourly and you never want to miss a thing!!!!
when you work your nymphs how do you work them. growing up fly fishing a lot of my fly fishing was done for trout where you just drift nymphs in the current. all i ever really did for bluegill was use dry flies. what do you to work your nymphs?
hey thanks a lot greg i'll keep all those things in mind for the next trip.
Andrew, I use a hand twist retreive, and a strip and pause, with both sinking and floating lines. I will start retriving as soon as the fly hits the water at first , then start counting down a little deeper til I find the depth they are at. With the floating line I am limited by the lenght of the leader and tippet. The sinking line I can keep going deeper.
Most of my flies are are weighted with lead wire ( I use lead free), or bead chain eyes.
Do you tie your own flies? There are alot of good flies on BBG, On my page are some that I am useing.
i most absolutely do tie my own. i think its so much more fun to catch fish on something i tied myself. i tie my own leaders too. if i had the time and know how i would build my own rod too. im a big fan of using bead heads but also on occasion using the barbell eyes like you would find on a clouser pattern. ive seen the bead chain eyes and thought about using them just havent gotten around to tying any with them. for the longest time i never really thought about nymphing too much for bluegill. when i was younger and catching them i used mostly dry flies cause it was easier for me to see the hit and i never considered swimming them since i was used to fishing nymphs in moving water. i'll have to check out your page and see some of your favorites and give them a try. thanks for the help.
hey greg one more question. what is the hand twist retreive i havent heard of that
OOH that's a tough one to explain,I think Mel krieger showed on one of those "essence of fly casting tapes "also availeble on dvd .Do try the bead chain for eyes there are a great variety not just at fly shop look see what your local hardware has in stock,somewhere i picked up 2ft of chrome-green chain tiny in size but make really cool eye color really slow sink rate welcome and enjoy any time on the water Geoff
hey thanks for the advice. like i said im looking for any advice anyone has cause i dont think ive even seen a 10 inch bluegill and most of you guys seem to find them with regularity. looking forward to trying all these tips though. wont be for another month and a half though. cant hit the water til some time in august.
Andrew,look on you tube :the new fly fisher-tip#8 watch the brian's right hand in clip if you can slow it down you should get an idea of what Greg is talking about Geoff
It's demonstrated in this video: http://www.ehow.com/video_2357906_understand-line-retrieving-anglin...

If I see any better one, I'll post it here.
Andrew....check this out for a description of hand twist retrieve.
http://www.faqs.org/fly-fishing/Du-Le/Hand-Twist.html
hey jen thanks for the site that is a pretty good description helps out a lot. now i just need to get on the water and give it a try. little battles at a time lol.

RSS

Latest Activity

Troy Dorman posted photos
3 hours ago
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
Thumbnail

Picked up Several Nice Yellow Perch Shallow…..4/29/2025

"Thanks John….never get tired of quality perch bites…"
20 hours ago
John Sheehan posted photos
yesterday
John Sheehan commented on Jeffrey D. Abney's photo
yesterday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

493726391_10238746707466370_4942384414329687790_n

"Good job ,Jeff! The ones I caught were probably in 5-6 ' but long cast from shore. These…"
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted a photo

Picked up Several Nice Yellow Perch Shallow…..4/29/2025

Also caught two nice white perch shallow also…
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted a photo

Dock Crappie…..4/29/2025

We had blue skies with 81 degrees…strong southwest wind but our water was still blown out from the…
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted photos
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney posted a status
"It was still windy but a friend and I splashed this afternoon, nice mixed bag ….low water at 70 degree surface temperatures…good times…"
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

493726391_10238746707466370_4942384414329687790_n

"Nice John….I caught several white perch this afternoon very shallow…"
yesterday
Jeffrey D. Abney commented on Troy Dorman's photo
Thumbnail

1000003851

"Pretty specimen Troy!"
Monday
John Sheehan commented on Troy Dorman's photo
Thumbnail

1000003857

"Posting some nice Fish, Troy!"
Sunday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

492222666_10238698533862060_5336729201480880262_n

"Fish are flopping around like its July up here and we haven't seen May yet! Very weird year!"
Sunday
Bruce Tomaselli commented on Troy Dorman's photo
Thumbnail

1000003857

"I can just taste the fillets!"
Sunday
Troy Dorman posted photos
Sunday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Saturday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Thumbnail

491348751_10238683890455984_2672104245638727985_n

"Yes and very aggressive that Day!"
Saturday
John Sheehan commented on John Sheehan's photo
Saturday

© 2025   Created by Bluegill.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service