Eric
Accardo does make some of the best poppers. They are good quality. I have found the best place to buy them is from www.breambugs.com.

unHOOKum

Terry

Thanks Terry!

OK, last night I got to the farm pond with about 40 minutes of light left. As I turned the corner and the pond came into view, I could not believe my eyes. The pond was a sheet of glass. There were no less than a hundred small boils coring the lake.
I had NO small dries in my flies. I was ready for some great wet fly fishing.
I tried the wets and, NOTHING. I changed to a small size 10 white popper with a red tail. Bingo, they were'nt hitting as much as I like, but they were hitting it.
I got a glimpes of a small fly, maybe a mayfly ??? about a 14 or so. I just new it would take me at least 20 minutes to go home and get my flies.
It was a great night of fishing. about 40 fish in all.

I took my son and dog fishing yesterday afternoon. It was great weather. Nice and cool in the shade and then when the sun hit my back it was almost warm enough to loose my fleece.

I'll have to get pics of the flies I've made recently and post them here. I used the following flies yesterday. Size 12 bead head montana prince, in green, brown and red. Size 8 aberdeen hook, with bead chain eyes, maribou tail and wing, and ice dubbing body. The following combonations worked well. Olive wing and tail, red or brown body. Black wing and tail, red body. Purple wing and tail, red or brown body.
I fished for about 2 hours and had great luck . 64 gills and 17 bass.

Good fishing klbaer. Wish I was having the same sucess as you. Post some pictures of your flies and fish.

klrbaer, something very similar happened to me over the last two sundays. Both days it started about 30 minutes before dark. There were so many boils. It was incredible. We had caught so many fish we started waiting for the largest boils. We were throwing accardo popping bugs and it was just awesome. Round Dinny was the bug.

man i think im getting obsessed with bluegill fly fishing because i have been fly fishing for bluegill in the winter which the winter is right now in Georgia but ive done very well using a deep small clouser minnow caught 22 bluegill before lunch so yea its still goin strong so yea

Good for you Tobias. I think (for good reasons) we are all obsessed with bluegill fishing. It is good that you can contuinue to fish for bluegill during the cool weather. Like you, I'm going fishing even though the weather cooled down.

You guys should've been with me for the last couple of weeks! Just got back Friday from Lake LBJ (Granite Shoals, TX), where I was routinely catching 9-10" bluegills/long-ears/red ears, on a daily basis! What a BLAST! Almost every one of them was caught on a black-hackled, red-butted peacock (think brown-hackled peacock, with a red tail of bucktail added). KILLER fly!

Sounds like a blast Charles. Glad you enjoyed your time on the water. Post a photo of your fly if you get a chance. Thanks,

Finally back from another trip to GShoals. More monster bluegills! :-D check MyPage for a picture of the fly. A little research has provided the real name: Red Tag.

Just got a real nice lanyard from e-bay for just $11. It is good looking and for $11 I could not drive around getting what I needed to make one close to it. Sure a couple of snaps and a bootlace will work but this one does look nice.

It appears that once again, the Corps of Engineers is going to flood our parks and campgrounds for the winter. They did this last year and ruined our fishing. :(

Go to Google images and search Forsyth Missouri flooding.

Man, this cold wx is KILLIN' me! It's been down in the 20s and 30s(F), and, while I know that's not cold to SOME of us on this site, it's killin' my 'gillin'! Went to one of my favorite (stock) tanks yesterday, and couldn't buy a strike! I tried dries, wets, a wooly bugger, a coachman streamer, and... nothing. Aaaaarrrrrggghhhhh!

With temps in the single digits here in the Ozarks, the 'gills are so deep they're gonna need to decompress in the Spring.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_1...

So Ive purchased one of these auto reels from bass pro. I got it prolly 5 months ago. Still sittin in the box. Im going to buy one more and I need a couple poles to put them on. All ima do is flip popping bugs with it. Can somebody point me in the direction of a rod and some line?

Jeremy, I love throwing popping bugs. I like my 6wt. Personally, I think it's a great all around weight to throw. As far what you should go with it's really all about how much you want to spend. Is there a price range you're looking to stay in?

CHEAP! Im so ruff on my equipment Its just goofy of me to spend big bucks on expensive stuff. I know I should prolly take better care of it but I buy it to use not put it in a rack and show off its price tag! haha. If I need it to catch a fish, smack a snake, or hang some cloths on ima use it! HAHA I guess i need a 108" stainless cb antenna with some eyes on it!

Fly Rod D, I've heard good things about the Shakespeare product. Thanks!

Ive got 2 shakespeare rods now! My original that I learned to fly fish on over 20 years ago and lord theres no tellin how long paw paw had it before I started catchin squirrels with it.

Its a shakespeare alpha FY1310A 8ft action# 7/8 Graphite composite with a shakespeare silent TRU-ART auto reel. The reel broke in november on me and im looking at it rite now fixing to to what I have no clue how to do. TAKE IT APART! This thang is an antique!

My other is a reel I bought about 15 years ago when I was 14 cause paw paw said that that was my reel to use in HIS boat! Told me to go and buy my own to tare up. Funny how well he knew me! Its a shakespeare that I got from walmart for 15 bucks! Took me 2 yards of mowing and a week to convince moma that I didnt need to put that 20 bucks in my savings that I needed a new reel. Its a shakespeare skp8056-2 8'0 #5/6 I hated the reel cause it wasnt an automatic like pawpaws but I made do and caught a ton of fish from it. When he passed away 2 years ago I got my reel. And yep just like he said i had it broke within a year and close to 400 gills! Guess when you crank up an old motor you may wanna break it in before you run it wide open!

Yank a hat with a bug!
Mayo

I knew that spring was gonna bust me! Anybody know somebody who can fix an automatic reel? ouch my fingers are hurtin!

Oh yea! What kinda line do I put on these things? Should I take up to my local outdoor shop and have them to spool them for me. How much line goes on it? Whats backing and do I really need it for bluegill. The line that I had on my shakespeare was probly 20 years old and last year had to pull in at least 500 fish. Yea 500 just on a fly rod. I fish 3 to 5 days a week for about 8 months out of the year and thats just what I caught on a fly rod! Bruce was the one that talked me into going artificial and popping bugs was the only thing I had confidence in other than a cricket!

They have been good at my local Cabelas in helping with line problems and occassional spooling. I can't imagine going into the backing for a bluegill, but I guess I just follow custom. About 50' of backing, lines are about 90 - 100'. Leader and tippet another 7 - 15'. You should still have enough room to fit a finger between the reel and the line. I have an inexpensive 3 weight Cabelas III Forks that I have grown very fond of. Between coupons and such it was less than $50 for the whole outfit. Great with bluegills. Caught 2 yesterday one a fly I invented called the sugar magnolia.

I GOT THE REEL FIXED! I think im going to put it back on the alpha clean em up and maybe retire the old girl! Still havent decided what rod to purchase for my new reels. I like that ugly stick! Watching ebay for a good deal!

Got some line today for one of the reels Im expecting by the end of the week today from academy. Superfly Wf6 Floating Hi vis yeller! Guess I just tie me a square not on the spool and let er go! What the heck does WF stand for and why does this junk cost so much? haha 18 bucks for 90ft. I can buy and tie a couple bream busters for that! May even have enough for crickets! Fly fishin aint for folks with empty wallets that just wanna eat!

Todays progress!

Bought my reels just 5 min ago. Pflueger Trion Fly Rod (PT9056NT) 9ft 5/6 wt

I scored two for under 70 bucks shipping and handling. Kinda like bluegill fishin. Just gotta slow down take your time and look everywhere and you will find land the one you want. I hope these thangs are good.

Hey Jeremy, Sounds like you are set up for fly roddin. Floating line is good, "wf" is weight forward. That is what I started with now I have an intermediate sinking line that I use most of the time it is by cortland.It runs around 50 dollars. Togen Fly shop has an intermediate line for $24. This sinks @ 1 1/2" to 2" per second. Then I also have a rocket sink line that sinks @ 8"to 9" per second. Just add leader tippit and fly and L.T.F.F.

Here are a couple sites that shows how to tie different knots used in fly fishing, http://www.trout-salmon-fishing.com/flyfishing-knots.htm, http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/fishing-knots.htm

I caught a few small ones on Saturday afternoon in a local nature area. I wasn't sure that there were even fish in the pond anymore. I tried several locations around the main pond and got a little interest but no bites. Then I found an area where a smaller pond drained into the main pond. Bingo. They loved my 'sugar magnolia' fly. I tried the sugar magnolia with a micro jig, but did not like the way it casted with a 3 weight. May try a dropper next weekend.

Back to same pond 2 weeks ago after the big Dallas snowstorm (12 inches). Kind of fun casting in the snow in Dallas on a beautiful sunny day. I believe the fish were still too 'freaked out' to be interested in my flies. Last week, I had better luck. Caugh quite a few small bluegills. Feisty little suckers. Aside from all the other joys of fly fishing, I was very happy that my barbless, small hooks did minimal damage to my 'prey.'

Mr. Richard that would have made a cool pic!

I've heard on this site about fly rodders using various forms of indicators to aid them in detecting a bite. Has anyone ever used the old style quills for this ? I think they would be very good since they are so sensitive and you don't have to worry about them getting 'water logged' and sinking. Any advice as to set up and method is appreciated.
Rob

Hi, Robsabloke, I use porcupine quills 100% of the time if I using livebait, crickets for bluegill ,minnows for crappie, it's like using a net on them, here is a photo of the ones I use

and here is a photo of quills in action, this one is 8 and quarter inches long

Try them I thing you'll like them

If you are worried about water logging, then a strike indicator you might look into is a "thingamabobber" no joke on the name. They are the new hot thing in trout fishing, and no reason why a panfisherman couldn't use the small size. They stay afloat and I haven't had a single issue with mine. Good product

What size fly do you find works best for the larger bluegill..

I'm mostly a size 10 or 12 kinda guy. Small enough to get the gills but big enough to interest the occasional bass or whatever.

I agree with Lee. I've caught decent ones on #8 poppers to. But 10 or 12 seem to produce. The bigger ones seem to be below the surface to. The bigest I've caught were nymph-like bottom flies or sub surface variations. Spiders seem to do well. Especially this time of year.

Has anyone ever tried those bubba spiders? Looks like a small jig head with a wrapped body and some celi legs around the jig head. I've seen something similar called a cap spider. Anybody know anything about those?

Actually did some fishing today using a cap spider on a sinking furled leader...was only able to spend a short time but had 3 nice ones on but ldr on them...but did manage to get a real nice redear 10 1/2 inches...It was a great time on my 2wt...my personal best redear..

Did you tie them yourself?

I've used and tied alot of the bubba spiders, I sell the jig heads in my shop, the work good on trout also.

Ive never heard of a bubba spider. I would be glad to pay for an assortmentt if anyone has the time. Is this a regional fly? In northern Indiana the gills are just moving in. no beds yet. Anyone fish with ratsos?

Eric, I bought them off of the auction site, I am unable to tie flies cause of a problem with my left hand...wish I could tho...they are a good fly...one of the goto flies in my box...

send me your address Thomas J Swank, and I'll send you a few they are effective here in Missouri.
you can send the info to timsfly@hotmail.com

I would think the "purists" would throw rocks at you for using them at the Park!!!! ;)

Naw, I use them on my 2000 $ bamboo fly rod just to piss the purists off :)

Hehehe, now THAT'S funny.

I got a new Tenkara rod today, can't wait to try it out on the bluegill wed. should be fun

Anybody have a pic of the bubba spider pattern that was mentioned?

I tie these in lots of colors, bluegill do like em.