Nymphs For Bluegills

[GHow 0]

Alot'a bluegill knowledge coming out here.

Breambuster,

Check out this cray fish pattern from duckydoty. I received in the last smallmouth swap so I haven't been able to give a good work out yet. This is one duable fly and should be in the arsenal for a long time if I take care and don't loose it. This Connecticut River gill couldn't resist it.................

 

Steve P,

That Redear must have been some fight. Do you have any pictures?

 

[Linesides 0]

I have said it before in here. I am jealous of you guys catching bluegills (we call them pumpkinseeds) that big. We are lucky if they get to be palm size. 2# gills would be a hell of a fight on a 4 wt. I need a southern vacation.

[Faster Fish 0]

:bugeyes:

 

Nice gill. I am going to have to rethink my ideas on bluegill fishing. I haven't seen gills that size since I was a kid fishing with my grandpa on leech lake.

 

Randy

[Matt P. 0]

I love gills! Taking a kayak out on the pond. They are pretty easy to catch here though, Largest being probably 10 inches. I like using a Pheasant tail nyph with rubberlegs, or damsel/dragon nymphs.

[Steve P 0]

I have 1 pic of him but I haven't been able to find it in about a year and yes he was a fight of a life time he nearly took me into my backing but god what fun. I did have a fish spool me last year on the same point I caught that big red ear but I think it was a carp as hard as he ran out w/ my line I did manage to save my line at the lasy minute I grabbed it and broke the four pound leader I got lucky, I only had about three feet of backing in my hand when it finally broke and talk about burn I almost couldn't fish for three or four days over it.

[Guest]

I have said it before in here. I am jealous of you guys catching bluegills (we call them pumpkinseeds) that big. We are lucky if they get to be palm size. 2# gills would be a hell of a fight on a 4 wt. I need a southern vacation.

 

 

Hi Gray Squirrel!

 

Bluegills and Pumpkinseeds are actually two different species of the group called "sunfish". Pumpkinseeds are better-looking than 'Gills but smaller.

 

Here's a neat page that gives a good listing (and pictures!) of the different species of sunnies.

 

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/bluegill.html

[Linesides 0]

Ok after looking at that site we have around here.

Bluegills

Pumpkinseeds

Red Ears

Crappie (Calico Bass we call them) they love small wet flies sinking naturally

Blue spotted ones (but very rare)

Great website

But I still need a vacation on a farm pond

 

Trade some one a week in the best rasinbow/brown territory in NH for a week at a farm pond or southern lake.

 

[devinangleberger 0]

I like a chartreuse nymph, with orange legs, just dubbing and ostrich herl as the body, and two biots for the tail. Simple, effective.

[ditz2 0]

I have had some great success on a 'blind squirrel'. I found the pattern looking for carp flies. I tied up 3 or 4 and the fish just loved them. All fish....panfish, bass, and other fish as well. Haven't found any carp yet to try it on but I am confident they will like it too. I think that it is eaten as a nymph and a crawdad. I caught the same rock bass at least 4 times last summer. The original pattern calls for a squirrel hair dubbed body but I use a sparkelly bright orange dubbing instead. I have fished it as unweighted but it could be weighted if needed. I have fished a size 10 mostly but I have some tied on 8 and 6 as well to throw at carp when I find some. Don't leave home without it.

[Sjbellrichard 0]

I use the cap spider (1/80 oz) almost exclusively when I go subsurface for bluegill, redear or crappie. My biggest problem is keeping the bass off of them. Fun problem to have. I cast just beyond were I think the fish are, count to five, straighten the line and then slowly lift the rod tip 2-3 feet, I then drop the rod and pull in the slack (another 5 seconds) and repeat. I'm always watching the WT forward floating line for a jump if I don't feel a hit on the bull. I have tried sinking line but just haven't had that good of luck. Today I was catching 1 to 2 lb bass, 14 inch crappie and 10 inch bluegill. What an awesome day to be a furloughed government employee. Because of the furlough, not all of the bluegill were released.

[michaelray 0]

Nympsh work great for bluegill. I fish them just like I would for trout in our streams up here for Green Sunfish and Longears as well.

[dayhut 0]

you only need two materials for blue gill, peacock and rubbers legs.

This isnt far off the truth. While no fly tyer worth the name wants to use only TWO materials, you can make a passable brim fly with just these two.

My favored herl'd bluegill fly of late is the very old, "Red Tag." It lacks rubber legs, but has a hackle collar like a good wet fly. It fishes like one, too, You could add rubber legs, I suppose.

[dayhut 0]

I know that there are many who denigrate the lowly bluegill, but in the warm waters of the South, where there are no trout streams, bluegills are about the only game in town. Of course, one can go after largemouths, but most of them are taken deep, here, with crank lures. Either plugs or rubber worms dragged along the bottom. There are no smallmouths either.

 

However, I have yet to find a fly that will take bluegills nearly as well as "Georgia Red Wigglers," but I'm still looking.

 

It might be interesting to note, however, that when things where going badly for the British troops during the Revolutionary War, King George wrote to Lord Cornwallis, stationed then at Charleston, SC asking if it was really worth it to continue the war. Lord Cornwallis wrote back to King George and said, "Yes, it's worth it to continue the war. If for no other reason, for the bream (Southern word meaning bluegills and other sunfish) that swim in the waters of Carolina."

 

So laugh if you will, but I will continue to pursue the lowly bluegill with a fly rod.

 

BB

Personally I prefer that people consider bluegill:

"stupid," **

"too easy,"

"just for kids," etc.

The more people that go after trout, or bass or whatever else, well... the more I have bluegill waters to myself.

 

** For the record, during threat avoidance studies, bluegill were proven to be fast learners. Both trout and bass were slower to learn avoidance behavior than the bluegill. The fish that learned the fastest, however, may come as a surprise - it was the lowly catfish.

[Rocco 0]

Nymphs for gills IMO should be wiggly, buggy flies in sizes large enough to drive off the dinks and to discourage the others from swallowing them so deep you waste lots of time trying to disgorge them. The big gills and crappie will take size 6 and 8 streamers on long shank hooks anyway, so forget the pocket lint flies.

 

Rocco

[hcfliesandjigs 0]

Rocco I agree this being my first year fly of serious fly fishing I have done lots of trial and error on bluegills. The bigger flies really have not discouraged all that many takes and definitely made it easier to get the fly back out of the gill. Using the really small flies will always get takes but many times made it very hard to get it out of the super small fish which ate it.