Fly Rods

[Fred Wallace]

Greetings from Kentucky,

I would like to know your prefered fly rod, Wt. and length, for bluegills. Additionally, a list of your favorite flys, surface and wet, would be helpful.

[Csteel]

Welcome to BigBluegill, Fred.

I have a 5 weight flyrod that I use. It is definately strong enough for Bluegill. You could even go down to a 3 or 4 weight flyrod if you wanted to.

For surface fly's, I would go with poppers or an insect imitation like a cricket or grasshopper.

[Bruce Condello]

I only have one fly rod, and it's a six weight. It seems a little heavy for the most part, and I'd like to invest in a lighter one some day. I'll be watching this thread for more information.

I love to use small bead heads that are black body and green tail that imitate damselfly nymphs.

[Fred Wallace]

My lightest rod todate is a TFO graphite 4 wt. 8 1/2 feet long. It works great on my ponds.

I'm a fan of Lefty Kreh's writings and several times in his books he has recommended a 3 wt. rod for fish, primarely trout, of less than 5 pounds. Since my gills are quite a bit less than 5 pounds I thought a 2 wt. would be appropiate.

I'm awaiting the arrival of a TFO 2 wt. 8' rod. My thinking is that it will fit nicely for gills in small, realitively clear waters. I've read on a bunch of other sites of folks using 0 to 7 wt. rods and was interested in what you guys were using.

And, just to create a little controversy, from a purely "Fishing Fun" perspective I feel that ounce for ounce my GSF and BG are fairly equal fighters. I use size 10 flies for the BG and 6 to 10 for the GSF. Both are great fun on a light, long fly rod. But not so lite or long that it would endanger the survival of the fish.

[Bruce Condello]

Could you by chance post a picture of your fly rod outfit on this site, with something nearby for perspective? I'm very interested in seeing your rig, Fred!

[Fred Wallace]

Still waiting for the new rig to arrive. Will post pictures ASAP.

[jim cosgrove]

these are some pictures of my fly's. I tie them myself.

[HenryDavid]

Jim, are those super-sized versions of a San Juan worm, never seen them like that before, very interesting indeed, what do you call it.

[jim cosgrove]

henry, they are sz. 12 with a1/8 in. tungsten bead in center a dave whitlock suggestion ?

[Greg McWilliams]

How do you keep your boxes so neat and in order???

[Don Lockwood]

I was about to put my 2 cents in when i read your post.
My favorite of all time is the TFO 2 wt. What a joy to fish with.
You will love it. At least that's my prediction.

[Nate Herman]

Temple Fork Outfitters 5/6 weight, 4 piece, 9 foot rod is what I use for pond fishing. Fishing in ponds, I occasionally hook into the mighty green carp or a channel catfish.
Also when in pursuit of some Boone and Crockett 'gills those guys pull plenty hard enough to warrant using a 5 weight rig. I guess I am just used to catching really big fish!!!!! Just kidding........Kind of.....Being overly confident and 10' tall is very easy to do online!

[Fred Wallace]

Really Big Fish, Green Carp, Channel Catfish.

Nate, this is not a commercial but Temple Fork Outfitters [TFO] lifetime no fault breakage warrentee was a big plus in my choosing their products. I'm sure you considered it also.

I'm very satisfied with their performance, I now own three. But my fear of the occasional BIG FISH, GREEN CARP, and CHANNEL CATFISH or worst of all a large turtle handing me a bunch of broken puieces is somewhat tempered.