Anybody fish for suspended bluegills with a fly rod and sinking line?

[taxid]

I'm going to be fishing a small lake on my vacation where the bluegills and trout suspend about 15 feet and the trout a little deeper.  No outboards allowed and many times the lake is glassy calm. Water there is gin clear with visibility at least 25 feet. I will be in a kayak that doesn't need to be paddled (mirage drive) and thought it would be fun to use a fly rod and sinking line to get down to them. I do know this lake has very large suspended zooplankton which you can find in the stomachs of the fish.

A friend trolls for trout there with large flies and lead core line and occasionally hooks into some bruiser bluegills.


We used to have a guy in my area that fished this way and could catch tons of large suspended bluegills in just about any of the area lakes. He outfished everybody.

[Spider1]

Sounds like fun! How long does it take for a sinking line to get that deep?

[taxid]

Looks like 3.5 to 4 inches per second so up to 3 seconds per foot would make it 45 seconds to get it down to 15 feet if my math is right? Maybe a weight fly or stream could speed it up a little?

[zwiggles]

Looks like 3.5 to 4 inches per second so up to 3 seconds per foot would make it 45 seconds to get it down to 15 feet if my math is right? Maybe a weight fly or stream could speed it up a little?

In th summer when trolling for trout over 100’+ we will sometimes stop the boat to bring in a fish. When this happens our leadcore sinks, and almost every time when you real it in there’s a lake trout on it. I would think you would have a similar presentation by letting the fly line sink. Might take some time to get down there, but I bet it would work.

[taxid]

In th summer when trolling for trout over 100’+ we will sometimes stop the boat to bring in a fish. When this happens our leadcore sinks, and almost every time when you real it in there’s a lake trout on it. I would think you would have a similar presentation by letting the fly line sink. Might take some time to get down there, but I bet it would work.

Makes sense. I've caught fish trolling when I make a sharp turn and the line drops.

[Spider1]

Yeah buddy. You'll be casting it out as far as you can get it, then crack open a cold one and sit back a while. When yer done with the beer, start stripping it in! LOL!

[taxid]

Yeah buddy. You'll be casting it out as far as you can get it, then crack open a cold one and sit back a while. When yer done with the beer, start stripping it in! LOL!

You make fun but could get a hit on the way down.

Don't drink beer and it's not allowed on this lake. 

[rivereddy]

How dedicated are you to a fly reel?  I'd put a dinker spinning reel on the 5wt an drop shot an ice fly
or a beemoth.... Just an idea

fish on,

rivereddy

[taxid]

How dedicated are you to a fly reel?  I'd put a dinker spinning reel on the 5wt an drop shot an ice fly
or a beemoth.... Just an idea

fish on,

rivereddy

Hey I'm open to anything. Nothing I like better than to be on a lake all day with no outboards, no houses, no jet skies, no power boats or noisy people, just tinkering around trying different techniques. The lake (called pond in New England) has a small beach (see photo below) and that is it. There's a smaller tannin stained pond over a ridge that was sleeper for monster largemouths when I lived nearby. Not sure now but I will find out. Never see anyone fishing it.



Here's the other pond over the ridge:

[lowaccord66]

I always used a floating line.  Now with tungsten beadheads I don't think Id use a sinking line for bluegills.  Some ecoshot and a decent beadhead will do.  At least it would easily sink an 11ft leader.

[Spider1]

You make fun but could get a hit on the way down.

Don't drink beer and it's not allowed on this lake. 

just kidding! Ok, a hot cup of coffee from the thermos! But really, it does sound like a relaxing way to fish. Cast out a weighted nymph, streamer or wet fly... a colorful streamer with a wet fly or nymph dropper could be killer.... and let them sink. If they don't get hit on the way down, do a slow strip in short jerks. You'll get hit, should be a ton of fun!

[rivereddy]

By all means, find a way to portage over the ridge and check out that pond yonder.....

fish on,

rivereddy

[taxid]

just kidding! Ok, a hot cup of coffee from the thermos! But really, it does sound like a relaxing way to fish. Cast out a weighted nymph, streamer or wet fly... a colorful streamer with a wet fly or nymph dropper could be killer.... and let them sink. If they don't get hit on the way down, do a slow strip in short jerks. You'll get hit, should be a ton of fun!

I knew you were kidding, but even if you weren't no worries. That's just what I plan on doing, but I do have a lead core line rig and a mini-downrigger so I will be able to use different techniques. I see the state plants and has planted brooks and browns along with rainbows in the pond, which makes it more interesting. A friend caught a 6 lb. brown holdover in the lake years ago. I don't believe it was a broodfish plant as it had all good fins. This pond is like a smaller version of Walden Pond or one of the cape ponds. 

Years ago when I lived in the area, the pond was planted primarily with brook trout. They didn't get big but were a blast to catch, and there is an area of spring upwelling on the east end of the lake they would congregate by the hundreds to spawn. And I did observe some brook trout fry in the spring but with bass, bluegills, and yellow perch in the lake I doubt survival was very high.

We also did well with tip ups just under the ice.

MIT did an interesting study at the pond a few years ago as a competition to find a black box using some high tech imaging equipment. I asked if any of the imaging was available to the public but the snobs won't respond. I'm sure a bunch of 140 plus I.Q. people think I'm not worth responding to, but my I.Q. could give them a run for their money. (Could probably find the black box with my fish finder anyway!) 

https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/technology-office-challenge-2016.html

[taxid]

By all means, find a way to portage over the ridge and check out that pond yonder.....

fish on,

rivereddy

Only thing is back then the pond was choked with stunted bluegills and literally thousands of frogs. Also lily pads which seem to be gone. Not sure about the bluegills but the frogs seem to have disappeared.

We used to catch frogs for bait in the other lake by walking along the bank in our bare feet and wading in and grabbing the frogs on the bottom where we saw them hide in the muck and leaves. One day doing this I saw a large bass watching me. Another one scooted out from the bank with a back at last 5 inches wide. Went home and got my pole and put on frogs. Only problem was the only thing I had to use was an antique metal pole which had as much bend as a pool cue. I lost three big bass in a row that wrapped the line in the lily pads. A guy fishing there seeing what I was doing asked if he could have a frog. He cast it out in open water and pulled in 3 1/2 pound bass.

After that my brother and I stocked it with a couple dozen more bass from the other lake. We moved away not long after when my dad was deployed to Vietnam a second time (actually Cambodia).