this is still one of my favorite bluegill flies, I've been using them a lot the last few years, # 8 gamakatsu SC15 hook, chartruse pine squirrel tail, rubber legs, and small bead chain eyes.
Used the Bubba this week. Blown off the lake. Bluegills have made beds but are not on them. rain, rain rain, along with constant changes in temp. i did catch 1 9" gill who was in 10 ft water. Indiana sometime sucks!
Hope your weather improves, we are getting plenty of rain, but the water is warm and the gills are on the beds here, I'm wearing them out on my days off.
Tim H. Nice fly! Just curious... With the bead chain eyes, does that tend to make the hook point ride up upon retrieving? If so, I guess that would make it more "weedless".
The bead chain eyes do help it ride point up, and adds the weight for a slow fall, I don't like my flies to fall to fast, when the gills and crappie are deep I use barbell lead, and tungsten eyes.
going fly fishing today the huge blue gills redears and hybrids are on the bed and are way fun on my 5 wt and just got an 8 wt to fish my bigger bass bugs ive been tying
Caught a few smallies and some bluegill on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in Edinburg Va. Had a chance to meet Harry Murray,he is cool old dude.
Tuesday was my last day (for that trip) at Lake LBJ. Didn't feel like launching the kayak, so I went to a park. The first dozen casts brought a dozen fish to hand, almost all in the 8-10 inch range (only one was around 7 inches). Then it slowed down. In the hour and a half I was there, I brought 23 gills to hand, and lost 3 (the little monsters held on 'til they got close, but were never hooked - I HATE being teased like that). :-D
Caught some smallies on my new 4wt last weekend. So awesome. I had a 6wt up until last week. I really love the 4. Really good casting distance and really fun landing decent fish.
My wife got me a year membership to Private Water Fishing for my birthday. It has worked out well. Last weekend I went to the Six O Ranch near Cleburne, Texas. Caugh many coppernose bluegill. I had never seen such large bluegill. They were all around 10+" long. I had brought my 8 wt. expecting bass, but the bluegill were more fun. And with the heavy line, I did not have to worry about babying my fly or line.
There's a pond near my house where I go to go fly fishing. All the bluegill near my 8" long or bigger. I use a little black popper and as soon as it hits the water I feel a nice bluegill or bass on my line.
Responce to chris's comment "trout flies are king."
As a trout, and bluegill fisherman too, I totally agree with chris about trout flies. Of all the lures I've used on gills, dubbed dry flies have always produced the best for me. Olive dubbing for the body and blue dun hackle for the collar and tail.
They have the look and feel of a real insect and I think panfish hang on to them just a ittle longer than they do hard lures like cork and plastic poppers. This gives the angler a second or two longer to set the hook. I've never seen a fish that could "hit and spit" faster than a sunny. I've been dry fly fishing for trout and sunfish for over 65 years which amounts to a lot of trial and error. I've come to the conclusion that subdued colors that resemble a real insect are the best. After all these years my go to fly is a BWO dry fly (bue winged olive). I just tie them a little larger for gills (size 14) than I do the standard size 18-to 22 for trout. Any flyfishers have similar feelings about trout flies for gills?
No beadhead. Standard dry fly tie,but in size 14. I can't send photos at present. BWO's for trout are normally tied in size 18 to 20 and another late season hatch in 22 to 26. After many decades of fly fishing for gills and seeds I've settled on size 14 as the best size, for me at least. I prefer the subdued colors of the BWO as more representative of real insects. I also find that sunfish will take a size 14 dry fly completely in their mouth and hold on for that extra second that accounts for more solid hookups.
I have been doing pretty good with small olive wooly buggers. Seems to be the go-to fly with my buddies in Southern Illinois. I was recently turned on to a small bead head bug with a short rubber hackle tail. I am gonna try to copy the pattern and tie some up for next spring. Will let you all know if they work
No, nothing recent. The last time I was out with my flyrod was mid October. Water temp was around 70 or so. Was finding them in about 3-4 feet just off the beds from earlier this spring.
I'm patiently waiting for the ice to go off my favorite lake so I can limber up the long rod and my casting arm this season. I'm kind of surprised that with 177 members in the fly fishing forum no posts have been made since March 11. Thought I'd just type something to see if any of the fly fishers on this site are awake yet. I'm about two weeks away from ice out here in upstate NY.
I'm planning on a trip down to East Texas next week to a place that has 3 pound gills caught regularly. I'm so excited I can't sit still. Been tying up bass and bream flies for weeks to prepare. I hope to have some good pics and news when I return.
Anybody starting to get into em? I went to the lake yesterday and caught some pretty nice ones on the 4wt. Curious how everyone else is doing. Weather is getting better every day here in the South.
This past weekend I got into some really nice 'gills in East Texas. Caught my personal best - a 12" coppernose along with a dozen or more 10-11"ers on a 3wt rod. I also lost one that broke me off and it was the biggest 'gill I've ever seen.
Wow Chris. That's sounds like a nice fish. Gills like that on a 3wt are awesome. I have a 4wt and love it. I caught some decent ones this weekend myself - no 12s though. What cha catching them with if you don't mind tellin? You can send me a message if you don't want to tell the world.
Hey Eric, I don't mind saying what I was using. They aren't impressive (really quite ugly) and I'll see if I can take some pics soon but basically when the wind was up (which was most of the time) I was using a lead barbell headed, rubber legged, dark or light dubbed body #10 or 12 fly. If I wanted to it to sink a little slower or if the wind let up I would tie one on with beadchain eyes. I like them to sink hook point up so I get hung up less. Some of the flies had a little hackle collar too but the legs seemed to be the key. I hope that's somewhat helpful.
Thanks Chris. I haven't started tying my own flies - yet. I'd like to though. The one describe sounds very interesting. Yeah, it seems like the action that rubber legs impart are impossible for gills to pass up.
Well I've been looking to replace my old Fly Rod that was murdered and discarded brutally by a former acquaintance of mine. Well today I was at the Flea Market just browsing and I came across an old Fly Rod with a reel, so I jumped at the opportunity. It has an old Martin#60 reel on it. Does anyone know what weight Fly lines this reel held? I tried looking on the rod to get the info from there but it was all worn off. Please help this reels in some need of new line badly and I'm pulling at the leash to get out and Fly fish for Bream again
Hi Matt: My primary spot is the Choctawhatchee River, but with gas prices what they are I'm starting to fish Lake Juniper just north of town. A couple of weeks ago I was up near Geneva checking out the Baker and Cerrogordo Landings. Almost need a push pole to navigate the river. It really low by the Caryville gauge. We still have plenty of fishing but the catching is terrible. Last 5 trips out the catch for keeper bream is maybe 15 to 20 total. Absolutely the pitts..............! I'm not by myself either. Everyone is having trouble and now it's hot as Hades.
I know. The rivers down that way have been shallow for a while now. I was back home a month or two ago, and the Choctawhatchee was 2 feet deep! So I didn't get to fish any. Drought has been a problem there for a while.
Caught only five today but it was really hot. Got out late due to a doctor's appointment. Caught all five on a chain bead eyed yellow maribu wet fly. I used my 12' Iwana Tenkara rod that is a hoot to catch bluegills on.
You have a tenkara rod, huh? I've been thinking of maybe getting one of those, sometimes used similar rods in Japan for river fishing. The rods I used those times were not really tenkara rods per se, although they might have worked. They were probably closer to 16 feet long and had an equal amount of monofilament attached to the rod tip. To the end of the mono attaches a string of very small flies tied on a few inches apart. These were commonly bead heads. You put them out in the current, let them sit, move them around once in a while until a fish hits.
Even if I don't get the rod, I may get myself a Tenkara USA T-shirt just for the fish on it. That's a yamame, a native Japanese trout (well, I've read they're actually in the char family, but). The wild ones like cool to cold very clear water and are tremendously wary. I caught a wild one once, and caught a few stocked ones in heavily stocked "kanrizuriba" fishing spots. Even there, yamame are hard to catch. On a good day I'd catch 20 or more rainbows and usually no yamame at all. Even the hatchery-bred ones are pretty wary.
I got my rod from TenkaraUSA. Daniel is a good guy and sells quality products. I seldom use my conventional fly rod now, only when I have to reach out further than the Tenkara will allow. The simplicity of the Tenkara fishing is very appealing, just a rod and line and fly.
All the videos I've seen of tenkara were of people fishing in trout streams. How well does it translate to still water? With no reel, there's no stripping in line. Seems like the tip of a 12 foot rod would be a less precise tool for imparting action?
I usually use a piece of florescent fluorocarbon leader that I buy on line that is about 16' in length, plus about 3-4 foot 5# test leader. I can cast that far and as I don't have a boat all my fishing is from shore. There are a lot of people who use Tenkara for other than trout streams if you read the posts on TenkaraUSA's forums. People routinely catch 3-4 pound bass with them as well as some nice gills. There is even a guy in Hawaii that catches nice gills and red devils.
As far as imparting action to the fly, I find it easy to work a wet fly and I rather like heavier flies with glass bead or bead chain eyes. Although Tenkara isn't intended for use with large bulky flies.
Go to TenkaraUSA's forum and read up if you are interested. There are several different rods with different lengths and actions to fit different needs. This is a system for mostly fishing small/close, cold or warm waters.
Tim C. Homesley
this is still one of my favorite bluegill flies, I've been using them a lot the last few years, # 8 gamakatsu SC15 hook, chartruse pine squirrel tail, rubber legs, and small bead chain eyes.May 10, 2010
thomas j swank
May 18, 2010
thomas j swank
May 18, 2010
Tim C. Homesley
May 18, 2010
William Musall
May 22, 2010
Jeff Soto
May 22, 2010
Tim C. Homesley
May 22, 2010
Vincent Ventura
May 30, 2010
CHARLES A. VINSON, JR.
Jun 1, 2010
Charles Singleton
Tuesday was my last day (for that trip) at Lake LBJ. Didn't feel like launching the kayak, so I went to a park. The first dozen casts brought a dozen fish to hand, almost all in the 8-10 inch range (only one was around 7 inches). Then it slowed down. In the hour and a half I was there, I brought 23 gills to hand, and lost 3 (the little monsters held on 'til they got close, but were never hooked - I HATE being teased like that). :-D
Jun 5, 2010
robert b reid
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v308/robs1563/gabreamfanatic.jpg[/IMG]
Jun 14, 2010
Eric
Jun 22, 2010
Richard Wayne
Jun 24, 2010
Will Mikuta
Jul 27, 2010
Will Mikuta
Jul 28, 2010
chris
trout flies are king
Jul 28, 2010
gillbum
As a trout, and bluegill fisherman too, I totally agree with chris about trout flies. Of all the lures I've used on gills, dubbed dry flies have always produced the best for me. Olive dubbing for the body and blue dun hackle for the collar and tail.
They have the look and feel of a real insect and I think panfish hang on to them just a ittle longer than they do hard lures like cork and plastic poppers. This gives the angler a second or two longer to set the hook. I've never seen a fish that could "hit and spit" faster than a sunny. I've been dry fly fishing for trout and sunfish for over 65 years which amounts to a lot of trial and error. I've come to the conclusion that subdued colors that resemble a real insect are the best. After all these years my go to fly is a BWO dry fly (bue winged olive). I just tie them a little larger for gills (size 14) than I do the standard size 18-to 22 for trout. Any flyfishers have similar feelings about trout flies for gills?
gillbum
Sep 2, 2010
Tim Roberts
Sep 17, 2010
gillbum
No beadhead. Standard dry fly tie,but in size 14. I can't send photos at present. BWO's for trout are normally tied in size 18 to 20 and another late season hatch in 22 to 26. After many decades of fly fishing for gills and seeds I've settled on size 14 as the best size, for me at least. I prefer the subdued colors of the BWO as more representative of real insects. I also find that sunfish will take a size 14 dry fly completely in their mouth and hold on for that extra second that accounts for more solid hookups.
gb
Sep 17, 2010
Chris Barclay
Sep 17, 2010
Se7en
I was just wondering the same. I haven't had much success with pan-fish poppers. Now to find some BWO recipies.
Cheers!
Nov 8, 2010
Florida Boy
Nov 20, 2010
Scott Cutler
I have been doing pretty good with small olive wooly buggers. Seems to be the go-to fly with my buddies in Southern Illinois. I was recently turned on to a small bead head bug with a short rubber hackle tail. I am gonna try to copy the pattern and tie some up for next spring. Will let you all know if they work
Dec 19, 2010
Richard Wayne
Scott - what are your water temperatures now in Southern Illinois? How small do you go on the buggers? I'm assuming you caught some recently...
Dec 20, 2010
Scott Cutler
No, nothing recent. The last time I was out with my flyrod was mid October. Water temp was around 70 or so. Was finding them in about 3-4 feet just off the beds from earlier this spring.
Dec 20, 2010
Scott Cutler
I usually tie a bugger in size 8-12. We have also had good luck with white ones, but usually in the spring.
Dec 20, 2010
gillbum
I'm patiently waiting for the ice to go off my favorite lake so I can limber up the long rod and my casting arm this season. I'm kind of surprised that with 177 members in the fly fishing forum no posts have been made since March 11. Thought I'd just type something to see if any of the fly fishers on this site are awake yet. I'm about two weeks away from ice out here in upstate NY.
gillbum
Apr 5, 2011
Chris Barclay
Apr 5, 2011
Richard Wayne
Responding to gillbum... Texas has its problems - but you can fish all year and that's great. It has been quiet on this forum though...
Apr 6, 2011
Eric
Apr 11, 2011
Randy Calley
Apr 12, 2011
Chris Barclay
Apr 12, 2011
Eric
Apr 12, 2011
Chris Barclay
Apr 12, 2011
Eric
Apr 13, 2011
Florida Boy
Apr 17, 2011
Richard Wayne
Apr 18, 2011
Cliff Hilbert
For my first post in this group I'm simply going to post a link to a previous thread I started about redears.
http://bigbluegill.com/forum/topics/redear-heavenMay 5, 2011
J. B. Hillard
May 31, 2011
Matt Lewis
Jun 1, 2011
J. B. Hillard
Jun 1, 2011
Matt Lewis
Jun 1, 2011
Oleta Webb
Jun 12, 2011
J. B. Hillard
The Choctawhatchee is peaking today at about 6.8 ft. When the rains were going over the weekend NOAA predicted about 10 ft.
It's dropping now so fishing should pick up over next few days. Will give it a shot on Thursday
Jul 19, 2011
John C Watson
Caught only five today but it was really hot. Got out late due to a doctor's appointment. Caught all five on a chain bead eyed yellow maribu wet fly. I used my 12' Iwana Tenkara rod that is a hoot to catch bluegills on.
Jul 20, 2011
JBplusThuy
You have a tenkara rod, huh? I've been thinking of maybe getting one of those, sometimes used similar rods in Japan for river fishing. The rods I used those times were not really tenkara rods per se, although they might have worked. They were probably closer to 16 feet long and had an equal amount of monofilament attached to the rod tip. To the end of the mono attaches a string of very small flies tied on a few inches apart. These were commonly bead heads. You put them out in the current, let them sit, move them around once in a while until a fish hits.
Even if I don't get the rod, I may get myself a Tenkara USA T-shirt just for the fish on it. That's a yamame, a native Japanese trout (well, I've read they're actually in the char family, but). The wild ones like cool to cold very clear water and are tremendously wary. I caught a wild one once, and caught a few stocked ones in heavily stocked "kanrizuriba" fishing spots. Even there, yamame are hard to catch. On a good day I'd catch 20 or more rainbows and usually no yamame at all. Even the hatchery-bred ones are pretty wary.
Jul 21, 2011
John C Watson
Jul 21, 2011
Chris Barclay
Jul 21, 2011
JBplusThuy
Jul 21, 2011
John C Watson
I usually use a piece of florescent fluorocarbon leader that I buy on line that is about 16' in length, plus about 3-4 foot 5# test leader. I can cast that far and as I don't have a boat all my fishing is from shore. There are a lot of people who use Tenkara for other than trout streams if you read the posts on TenkaraUSA's forums. People routinely catch 3-4 pound bass with them as well as some nice gills. There is even a guy in Hawaii that catches nice gills and red devils.
As far as imparting action to the fly, I find it easy to work a wet fly and I rather like heavier flies with glass bead or bead chain eyes. Although Tenkara isn't intended for use with large bulky flies.
Go to TenkaraUSA's forum and read up if you are interested. There are several different rods with different lengths and actions to fit different needs. This is a system for mostly fishing small/close, cold or warm waters.
Hope this helps,
John
Jul 21, 2011