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.

[Charles Singleton]

I'm currently using an old (VERY old) Shakespeare 8'6", 3-piece 5wt (soon to be replaced by a Cabela's 9', 4-piece 5wt). Most of my success on BGs has been on Wooly Buggers, Griffith's Gnat, Green Drake Paradrake, Parachute Adams, Mosquito, Pheasant Tail, and Black Gnat. I've had sporadic success with small poppers (dark, usually black), as well as blue damselflies, and various streamers.

[Charles Singleton]

Well, changed my mind. No Cabela's (this time). Found a really good deal on an Albright TW905/6-4. Tried it out at Inks Lake SP last weekend, and I love it! An incredible improvement over that old monster Shakespeare. Funny thing is I paid little more for the Albright than for the Shake... and I've had the monster rod for over 15 years. Then again, Albright has (had) a sale going on, and I got it for 70% off. Cost less than $40 - delivered. MAN! I'm STOKED! :-D

[Steve Crowder]

Hi to all. I have a 2wt. fly rod, but I still prefer the 5wt. Guess I have used it so much, it's just second nature to me. It's a 7'9" Far & Fine by Orvis. That old rod (16 years old) just suits me. Kinda slow, like me. Plus the 5wt. throws the gurglers and weighted nymphs a little better than the lighter rods. Good luck to everybody in their fishing endeavors.

[kip noblitt]

7'1/2" foot five weights, sometimes 8 foot. small poppers, sponge spiders, sinking flies are jon's generic, green weenies, and green weenies on a 1/64 jighead. and cappy spider, which is a jig too, with spider legs just behind the head.

[Scott Kershaw]

My favorite is my 9-ft 3-wt... It's tough and casts exceedingly well, yet you enjoy every moment of the fight.

Too bad I am a few months behind in actively participating in this conversation:(

[Alex]

I have a 9ft fly rod that I believe is a 6wt, I got it from a buddy of mine over the summer and I have loved using it ever since I got it. Some of my favorite flies are nymphs, wooly boogers, little poppers are good flies also. I havn't really found a fly that doesnt catch bluegills, so try some different ones and see what you get.

[Bruce Condello]

I use a 6 wt, 9-foot Sage rod, with a Lamson reel. It seems a little heavy when panfishing, unless I've fly fishing for big bluegill, then it seems just right.

[shooter]

i hesitate to make this post,i know that some here will thank i am a little bit off,but i fish in timber, and roll casting under tight cover is the norm.
my rod of choice is an eagle claw 61/2 ft and 7 footers,single action reel,and 7 to 10 wt dt f line.
the rods are cheep at about 20 to 25 bucks a copy. the heavy line allows me to generate great line speed in these rods,and tight rolls. although these rods are rated at 4/5 wt,it takes a 9 or 10 wt line to get them loaded enough for tight loops.
i carry five fly rods and sometimes more in my boat at all times while fishing,and i do fish sometimes with 4 weight rods,i have two pflueger purist 4 weights 7 12 ft.
as for leaders i tie my own,three to six stage with 8 to 3 lb tippets.

you can't mow duckgrass

[Fred Wallace]

Greetings from Kentucky,

I love Christmas -- especiaaly the sales. Back when I started this thread I thought my TFO 8' 2wt. would be the ultimate Bluegill rod. Now I'm not sure. Let me explain.

Cabela's steady stream of discount offers forced me to buy a TFO 6' 2wt. Then I came accross a Scientic Anglers System 2L -45L at a HAD TOO BUY price at the eBay store Dintyclutter.

At 3'' - 5/8" and only 4.1oz this reel loaded with a SA WF4F will throw heavier flies and hopper/droppers 50' or so. End result was a very light, short rod for tight fishing spots as well as riding shotgun, fully assembled, in my Chevy truck.

I'm waitin for a little warm weather to fish it but so far the lawn casting results are very promising.

By the way, as a very satisfied custom I would suggest you check out the eBay store, Dintyclutter. Their service and attention was excellent. And, I found their
prices extremely competative.

Happy Holidays to all.

Fred

[Jeff Workman]

I have a couple rods. A 2 piece Cortland 5wt that was my first several years ago and a 4 piece TFO 3wt that I purchased in late 2006. I prefer the 3wt for bluegills. Last fall, somewhat on impulse (we were in Big Sky Montana at conference and we were checking out a fly shop), I purchased a 3 or 4 piece Sage 0wt for my wife. I knew it was light for serious bigger fish fishing; but thought it might be fun for bluegills back home, wife preferred the weight / feel, and it had a warranty. We've caught a few with it; but haven't had the opportunity to really give it a good try. Hopefully, we will this spring. I don't really have an overwhelming favorite top water fly. My subsurface one is probably a hares ear.

[Fred Wallace]

Hope I'm not violating any forum rules. If so please banish me to someplace warm with tons of bluegills to catch.

There is a brand new 8' 4pc 3wt. for sale for $60 shipped in the classifieds of ultralightflyfishing.yuku.com.

Positive reviews of littlejr.'s work, made by other custom rod builders, can be found in the Rod Building section - rods under construction thread - comments 18 to 24 (look in the upper right hand corner).

I'm just passing the info and have no connection to littlejr. or his products.

[B. Waldman]

I've got a couple fly rods that I pull out on occasion, mostly around spawn time. One is a 9' 6-wt. Sage that I have since converted to my predominant bass rod (stream smallies). The other, my new panfish rod, is an 8' 5-wt St. Croix. I pretty much stick with 5x-6x leaders as I'm usually around open water or perhaps weed edges. You can put a surprising amount of pressure on 3- to 4-lb. test line thanks to the cushion in the longer rods. This comes in handy as I regularly hook into 14"-18" bass it seems while chasing gills.

As for flies, my favorite is a simple sponge spider with legs cut down drastically. I seem to get much better hook-up rates by cutting the legs down, yet still get enough action to entice bites when twitching these on the surface. I'll be playing around a lot more this year with nymphs and the like along with some fluorocarbon leaders to catch subsurface gills. I'll also be trying some of the recommendations of others garnered from reading this thread :)