Fly Rod... Big Gills

[Pat Newberry]

OK, sort of new to Fly fishing... but somewhere I read that for the big girls, you need to fish deep.

Now question to fly fisherman. Oh and by the the way, I'm pretty new to the sport of fly fishing.

I head you must fish deep for the big ones. So that means to catch large gills on a fly rod, I need to use something that will sink?

Pat

[Mark Stine]

I prefer topwater and catch plenty of keepers top water, by this I mean more than nine inches long.  one of my favorite things is to hear that loud pop and see a big gill slap my topwater bug.  I would hate to make any general statement since so much depends on what type waters you fish as in depth, clarity, temp etc. also time of year, weather conditions, time of day.  But I will say this; from middle spring until October I start each fishing outing with topwater, if the bite is not on I go deep.  So I am prepared to go either way. I usually have two or three fly rods with me, one 4 weight topwater, A six weight for deep, I still have a floating line on it but use a flourocarbon leader and tippet. Flourocarbon unlike regular mono-filament will sink, also the weight of the fly helps. This rig has no problem getting down to twelve feet which is about as deep as I go where I fish.  Sometimes I carry a third 7 or 8 weight rod if I am going to use a large popping bug or deer hair bug if I have a bass in mind.  Bottom line though a lot of the sinking flies are weighted with lead wrapped around the hook or a brass bead or cone and will go fairly deep even on a topwater rig so you should try both to find what you like best and most importantly what will catch fish.

[Pat Newberry]

Thanks. I mostly fish the Flint River here in Middle Georgia so it's not going to be too deep, especially in summer.

I only have one fly rod and it's a 6# weight.

Where I fish at I can get hit with either gills or spotted bass. (fishing along the banks of the Flint in my kayak)

Pat

[Bill Purmort]

You are going to have a ball fishing the Flint with a fly rod...slow moving water and lots of sturcture.

The rod you have is perfect for all the fishing you are going to do.  If you can get an additional spool for your reel, get it and load it with a sinking tip line, if you can't find a fly shop and buy a sinking tip kit...it's weighted ( lead filled) lines that loop onto your floating line and will sink anything you choose to throw.

Fly selection:

Dry Flies...floating

sponge spiders...black, red, yellow

Girdle bugs...black, olive, brown ....see my photos

poppers....smaller the better , but you can use them for bass as well so pick up anthing from pencil eraser size to a quater...colors that you like  red, white, yellow, green

Wet Flies....sinking:

wooly buggers....black, olive and crayfish brown....size 12 to 4

wooly worms....better if they have a red tail...green and yellow

san juan worms....red, brown, purple

You pack a box with these and you will have it covered for a blast on the river.

 

Bill

 

 

[Bill Purmort]

Oh i forgot Clouser Minnows too....gotta have those on every trip you take...chartruse & white...gotta have it.