Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Anyone do any fly fishing for pan fish...especially bluegills...

Hubert,

Wapsi makes foam bodies, and heck, apparently even has an instruction page:

http://www.wapsifly.com/pfk03.html

And since I bought some yellow spiders at Lund's in WI, I knew there had to be a source for colors other than black and white:
http://www.flymasters.com/ShopDetail.asp?d=44&i=274

I will say, that since I first posted here, I've been working with bluegill sized hair poppers. My ability with spun/stacked hair is lacking, so this is a way to improve. Results have been encouraging. However, while the days here are still in the 70s-90s, the nights are cooling off. We're still getting a little surface action from the bluegill, but not for much longer. Time to get back to the rivers after trout.

Your 5 lber beats my latest significant bycatch: a 2 lb LMB caught on a #16 partridge and orange about 10 days ago. I cheated though, as it was on 5X tippet I was leery of putting a set in the Granger, but it came out unscathed. The ironic thing, is that I've been throwing all sorts of big stuff on an 8wt. I've been hoping to get a good sized bass on the fly this year, to no avail.

Good luck,
Scott

before that incident I never even thought about Bass on flies. that changed my ways I have caught a few 1 to 2 lbs, I thought I had hooked onto the worlds biggest trout. about halfway through the fight he broke water and then I knew I was in trouble. I never dreamed I could land him , all I did then is kept the pressure on him only about a 1Lb. I really got excited when he began to tire out.I took him home and ate him. I was still in the army and the meat was a welcome sight. we ate a lot of fish back then.

Love it.

(Warning - spinning gear shown below )

I can't believe the mild weather this year, and the way it's kept the fish easily accessible to a fly rod. Either that, or the fish have always been there in November, but I'd given up fishing for them. We're still hooking good sized fish, on nymphs/wets in the shallows. Last week it was 10 good fish for 11 casts, but only because on the tenth cast I missed one.

James is more and more starting to get the hang of actually working with a fly rod. I still need to do some coaching - rod tip down when stripping, keep tension on the fish... Realistically though, it's about the same as what I have to do with his mom

Last Friday was "PJs" day at his school, and we stopped by the pond on the way home to see if we could give some fish a little bit of jaw pain. The Redear is all his, I hooked the bass and handed him the rod.






Life is good, even if the trip down the American on Saturday was just a boat ride with the boys. There were no salmon rolling on the stretch of river we were floating, and we only saw 5 really ragged ones swimming in the shallows in some frog water. Next Saturday, we're floating the Yuba.

A rubber worm! My eyes, my eyes, I'm going blind!

Regardless, it's great that you have him out there and into fish. Treasure and retain those pics, as the first 20 years of my fishing experiences are only reflections in the memory banks. If the camera will do it, get in really close on some of those fish.

I have been wondering for several years who the authority was that declared PJ's acceptable day ware. Now I know we have the schools to blame.

Tight lines,

I love it in the late summer on our lake.

WyoCoyoteHunter---you bet I do, totally love it and the ice out spawn time crappies is my fav thing to work on a fly rod.

Not sure where you live in Wyo but if the Tongue River Res isn't too far off you might venture that way this spring and give it a go. If the timing was right and I could break away I'd meet you over there for a couple of days.

I find wets to work better than dry's though have caught more than a few on dry's. A small beaded hairs ear works best for me for sunnies and bluegills.

For crappies I like some bigger wets, and a good part of that reason so I have a chance to keep the fly in the crappie zone and not be bothered so much by the sunnies etc. (this is just for ice out and spawn times)

Great fun and a great way to intro newbies to fly fishing as they'll get so much action.

Dober

Pretty much my main fly rod quarry. As they say if bluegill got to 5 lbs you couldn't land one.

Way of life down here in Dixie.

While I got lucky and picked up a couple in March, it's warming up nicely, and the fish are on the edges and starting to eat foam spiders.

Boys:






Speygill. Poor little thing really shouldn't have hit the fly I had tied on while doing some casting practice:

Bluegills should be on the beds on the Tennessee River about now. About time to take the kids and the canoe out for fishing. Catching a couple dozen hand sized bluegill on a popping bug is a ton of fun whether you are 8 or 80.

Will be headed to Wheeler Lake on the Tenn Friday to get after the bream and catfish...,

The 'gills are bedding in heavy force right now which is about a week early here in Michigan. I've been at them the last few days with the Sage TXL 0wt.





16 gills on one grizzly adam #16...

You folks still catching bluegills and bass???? Never had a chance to catch a bluegill this spring as we didn't travel to Mich. to visit.. Was in NE Montana, and maybe should have looked into it there.. The rest of the summer will be in Wy. and Mt. so I will have to be satisfied with catching these lousy trout.. Sure miss those bluegills.. May get a chance at bass on our way north next week.. Hope you are catching a boat load...

Last Thursday:




Apparently the bluegill are always out there to be caught in November, I just didn't know it. That's the Cabela's CGR rod I mentioned in my first post. No longer available, it is now my "go to" bluegill and small stream trout rod.

For those of you that were in the swap in 2011, that's the James' fly in action. I tell you, that glass bead bugger just hovers, unlike a brass bead, and has that little something extra that a plain bugger can't compete with.

When I lived in Baker,Or. used to fish Brownlee pool on the Snake and the Powder river arm. I don't know what it's like now but there used to be large schools of Crappie, large yellow Perch, Bluegills, Sunfish, etc.. Usually took second place to Smallmouths and Rainbow Trout early and late in the year.

A couple of times caught Smallies on small flies fishing for crappie. Did catch a rather large yellow perch on a fly....quite a bit of fun. Didn't use anything exotic, just flies from the local sporting goods store. I knew of one gent who caught a small Channel Cat on a sinking fly....still had spots.

I Love to get out my little Sage 2-Weight Fly Rod & get after them in our stock tanks. I like to use tiny top water poppers or the real small foam grasshoppers.