Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Bluegills on the Fly!

I'm having an absolute blast fishing on this small private lake where my in-laws live in the mountains of western NC.
Caught my first bass on a fly yesterday and then sporadically caught a few gills here and there until about 8:15 when the bite turned on big time.
Landed close to 20 in the next 45 minutes all on the same popper. The biggest one was an absolute beast and probably my biggest bluegill ever. I seriously thought I had a nice bass on until he broke the water a few minutes later.
Was using an older St. Croix Imperial 8' 4/5wt with 4wt line on it.
Don't get me wrong, I love trout fishing but I am getting totally addicted to this.









Monster Bluegill. Easily 1 1/2 lb fish!


Finished it off with a nice sunset.

Loads of fun on my 3 wt Sage Flyrod. Love to fish for Bluegills & Bass in our stock tanks with a small popper like that.

I also love catching Gills on a fly rod. I fish for them on In the North west lower Pennisular of Michigan. Too much fun and also good to eat. I use either my 8' Penn 6wt or a Loomis 7.5' 4 wt.

I also love catching Gills on a fly rod. I fish for them In the North west lower Pennisular of Michigan. Too much fun and also good to eat. I use either my 8 foot 6 wt Penn fly rod or a 7.5' ft. Loomis 4 wt.

That sir is one of my all time favorite things to do!

Been a long time since Ive done it too�.

What ingwe said... Hope to do some bluegill/bassing in Aug. when we visit Mich.. Will use my old Fenglass 8' 6wt. It has been catching fish for me for 40 years..
IF I had good bluegill fishing near here, I would never cast for another trout..

Its a blast. When the mayflies hatch on the holston river, bluegills on a flyrod will out number bluegills caught on spinning tackle 3:1. If they slow down on the popper use a black ant, DEADLY... thanks for the pics.

They like the red ants, here. That and those little foam bodied grasshoppers.

Fun, ain't it?

That certainly looks like a great time!

Always wanted to do that!

Well I went after them yesterday, there are some ponds near were I live, I caught a pail full before lunch, fried them all up and well it was like I was 7 years old again! My old Sage 8'6" for a 5 Wt and a 6 foot 4 x leader was plenty! Catching them on # 12 Grey Wulffs, and some small green and black poppers!

Good to see I'm not the only one that is addicted!

I have a 8'6" 2wt Sage RPL that I am going to line up with a good 3wt line and go after some bluegills with it next.

From bonefish to carp - fishing is fishing and a great reason to be out. Color me envious.

a12, what kind of setup are you using there?

Well, if you'd swing down this way, we could make it happen. I have two ponds full of big bluegills and no one is taking any out, except me.

In 2007, My Dad caught a bluegill on his flyrod in our "Upper Pond" that was 14 1/2" long, roughly 2.5"-3" thick and about 7" wide. My Mom got a picture of it just before it slipped out of my Dad's hands and went back into the pond.

I prefer to use my 9', 5wt Loop for the bass and bluegills here. It's not big trout or salmon, but it's a blast!

Ed

I will be in Texas twice next year�.where you at?

The green part.

PM inbound...

Ed

You are a lucky man ingwe!!! Do you play the state lottery's?? If not you should .. Have fun!!

Drag yourself and your flyrod down here and catch all you want.

Ed

Nope! don't play the lottery�just the stock market And through no fault of my own, its been on a tear�.so Ive lined a couple hunting trips up, plus another to Florida and a fishing trip to Alberta.


That should put me back in the poor house!

Thats the kid and I think that is his 5wt St Croix. He mostly uses a 3wt Cabelas fiberglass for bream these days.

a12, I looked at the Reddington Buttersticks the other day and that could be a lot of fun on bluegills.
Went to Cabelas last night and purchased a RL Winston Passport 9' 5wt for a ridiculous price. After the sale price, coupon and a store credit being used I have about $100 in it with a lifetime warranty.
Now to see what St. Croix can do about fixing my broken 8' 4wt Avid.
Through buying rods for a while. Time to get another reel or two and get some lines and accessories.
This is a costly addiction on the front end!

This is the glass 3wt that the kid loves.

ingwe, awesome.. retirement is wonderful.. I haven't done a lot of hunts with guides since my retirement in 99, but have been able to make many DIY hunts.. If all goes well this spring I would like to hit Tx. for some exotic stuff.. when for pigs last spring.. a lot of fun, when it is cold up here..

WOW!
Just Wow!
How did he land that beast with that little 3-weight?
That had to be an epic fight!
Cool picture.

+1! That picture is a wall-hanger, for sure!

Ed

The main reason I never got interested in fly fishing for trout. Bass and bluegill are to readily available where I live.

For me bass and bluegill are ten times more fun than trout.. Plus I believe the fish are a bit more durable, and if you release them, they will most likely survive.. That aside, I would still sooner fish a good bluegill lake for a day than trout for a week.

The fish in this pic is a hybrid. Look at the ends on the fins, see the orange? It is a cross between a green sunfish and a blue gill. The mouth is a little bigger also. Nice fish indeed and you don't catch hybrids in the wild very often. Mostly in stocked ponds. I just noticed it and thought I might comment. I fish for sunfish more than anything else and can identify just about all the sunfish an the crosses. Love me some sunnies!

seal, this property was farmland that we put back into trees. The pond was silted in and the fish couldn't spawn, so there were few sport fish in it. We drained it, cleaned up the bottom a bit, put in a water control structure at the end of the slough, and restocked it. Those F1 bass are a blast, also.

Beautiful place you got there! I have a small pond on the family farm that is over populated with crappie. It was where I caught my first fish and its where I took my first son to catch his first fish and then my younger son to catch his first fish. Lots of memories at that ol place. I rode a motorcycle there for the first time. 1st camping trip first animal killed with a bow first frog with a bow my life would probably be way different if it weren't for that place. I don't know how much longer it will be in our family as a few have died off and my dad and uncle are old and not in the best of health. It will be hard to settle I'm sure. Take care of it and try your best to keep it in the family.

Finally got a few bluegills on the 8'6" 2-weight Sage RPL last week.
Was using a Rio Gold 3-weight line and it cast well. I think I like my 4-weight better though.

nice fish...