Big bluegill flies?

[Nathan]

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you fly fisher's out there had a go to pattern for big bluegill. Somethat that seems to attrach big bluegill better than the little guys. A lot of times while fishing for bluegill with small ant patterns I will see a big fish but have 20 little fish on my fly before the big fish even gets a chance to see it. And I know there will probably still be little guys chasing just about fly but I figured I would ask and see.

 

Also do you guys have an out of the box pattern that you use for tricky fish? I have a little pond near my house with some pretty nice pumpkinseeds, warmouth and bluegill but I have not been able to catch any of them on the fly. They have chased afew and hit afew but the few times they did hit I missed them, they seem to just sit in the sun. However, my friend who fishes with worms catches them left and right. The fish seems to be pretty picky to flies as I have tried just about everything I have from woolly buggers to small ants, dries, nymphs and all that.

 

Any help is appreciated! Pictures are always good too. :)

Thanks!

[Ray Ditzenberger]

That is a nice pattern. I think I will tie up a few.

[shooter]

that dubbing loop is not as hard as it looks,just get a good subbing tool,i use this one as it has weight and a good handle.(STONFO TURBO DUBBING TWISTER TOOL #2) bought it on evil bay ,after my old one broke. just practice dubbing on a bare hook, i dubbed by hand for years until i entered the twentieth century and bought a dubbing tool.

GATORS STINK

[Jesse Denton]

Any real redneck can make a decent twister with a paper clip and a golf ball.  Drill a very small hole in the golf ball, straighten the paper clip, leave the small bend, figure the length, insert the paper clip in the hole and glue in place.  I have a couple of homemade twisters with similar design, a piece of wire with a bend in the end and something heavy on the other end I can spin.

[Ray Ditzenberger]

and I always hear how you can catch BG on anything and how e z they are to catch. It is hard to believe that you have found some gills that are picky. ........ It is just a matter of how you hold your mouth. Try a dragon fly nymph or a small olive or black wooly bugger.

[Jesse Denton]

This year is not a normal year in the SE USA, cooler and the most rain since Noah docked the ark.  In the past I have found at this time of the year BG, Shellcrackers, etc., to have frequently left the shallow bedding areas for deeper water.  There is an optimum temperature for everything, they are going to try and find water and food that is in that range.  If you want to fish shallow and on the surface, I would be there when the sun comes up in the morning and when it sets at night.

 

[Nathan]

Thanks everyone, one fly I found to be productive with any bluegill including big ones is a bluegill bully. A some-what new fly to me. I was unable to catch these picky fish however because just as I started trying to trick them the park was closed to fishing. :'(

 

I did fish another pond that had some decent fish though. Here's a few of them...

 

 

 

[chris kowaleski]

Very nice fish Nathan!

[Nathan]

Thank you Chris. Boy were they fun, the best part was definitely watching these big guys inhale the fly.

[Vince Fusco]

I have had good success on a larger black stone fly nymph. A friend tied some for me a few years ago on size 8 hooks. At first they looked huge, but not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I decided to give them a try. Much to my surprise the big gills smashed them. They are now my go to fly for bigger gills.  

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Do you use them in still water, Vince? Stone flies are generally thought of as critters of creaks and rivers.

[Mike Vance]

I caught several bluegills using larva/pupa pattern by Davy McPhail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRT0OryiLyQ

I tied them with and without the legs and antennae. The segmented abdomen technique he uses here is very good. I tied them using different colors, tan, pink, green, orange, etc. Just the simple larva version using this abdomen tying technique works very well. adding some wire wrapping to the shank adds a little weight helping to get it down. Then just tweaking the line a little, very little, really gets their attention...

Mike V

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I tied up a mess of "Humbugs" tonight...picture is to follow on the photos page.
Its one of the brim flies mentioned in the Wilson's book, as a favorite of theirs.
Well see how they work.