Blue Gills on the Fly

[bassjunky]

sorry had to borrow the name of another post......

ChowderHead and I headed out yesterday to do some trout fishing, our area opened up this weekend and with the heavy fishing and traffic the fish must have been well fed as we got skunked...along with 20 other guys crowding the bank.

So we decided to head to a local hot spot to fish for pannies....This area is a great Gill bed and the action was pretty hot, Chowderhead must have had 6 befor I wet a line. We messed around with cranks and waxies

The ChowderHead tells me to grab my fly-rod and give it a try...I laugh it off but grab the road anyways...Wow..it was pretty cool, once I found the right size fly I was pulling in fish non stop. They were pounding the fly on the top, and running with it when it sank.

Alot of fun and I will be trying this again soon, Anyone else use a flyrod on pannies?

[Reel Wet Ride]

Its my favorite way to catch gills. They love nothing more in the summer than a white spider floating on top. Just remember the hemo's so you can get your spider back!

[xrhino]

YOU'RE KILLING ME!  I've been checking almost daily for the bigger gills to move in.  We're getting close now.  

I started learning to flyfish by going after gills years ago.  I was using a $24 flyrod from K-mart and practicing in the driveway of my downtown apartment.  Since then my flyrods have gotten more numerous and more expensive, my casting is marginally improved, and I chase many other species on the fly (pike this coming weekend), but I still get out and try for those big bulls on little flies.

Fave Flies: Bully's Bluegill Spider, Pheasant tail nymph, Mini Zonker Pinecone, Deerhair poppers... mostly all in size 10.

If you want to read, check out "Bluegill Fly Fishing and Flies" by Terry and Roxanne Wilson

[twisted]

using a flyrod is my favorite way to catch bluegills, they put up a fantastic fight

[BlindSquirrel]

Add a dropper and get two for the price of one.

[beaverfsu]

I am like xrhino-learned to flyfish so I could catch more 'gills.  Now I flyfish in salt and fresh for everything I would normally fish for anyway.  The book xrhino mentioned is excellent.  Hemo's are a must-I also choose to go barbless-easier to dehook and easier on the fish.

Favorite flys-Mico poppers- esp. the frog pattern, dearhair poppers, several different drys-esp Cahills, spiders, small terrestials, any dark beadhead and black wolly buggers, sz 10-14.  I don't find them to be very picky if they are biting at all.  

I also flyfish for crappie (spec's) which is a blast when they are schooled.

[pirkaus]

Fly fishing for pannies is a riot
For even more action try bass the fight is incredible
You don't need expensive gear and with a little practice the fun starts

[Ozzy]

We have been fly fishing gills for years, they are alot of fun to catch and its great action for a newbie.

I tye my own sponge crickets with rubber legs and foam bodies that float, the blue gills hammer them with a load sucking popping noise when they inhale them, they fight like crazy and really put on a show.

We fish a few lakes like this towards the end of may into june and I never see anybody else doing it, everyone just looks at us catching fish after fish probably in amazement I guess, its a great time and everybody should give it a try 

[fisher rich]

Even a nice dry like a royal coachman will do just nicely in hooking the 'gills!

[Cobra]

Just stick with it, it's the funnest way to catch 'gills.

[RLWagner]

sorry had to borrow the name of another post......

ChowderHead and I headed out yesterday to do some trout fishing, our area opened up this weekend and with the heavy fishing and traffic the fish must have been well fed as we got skunked...along with 20 other guys crowding the bank.

So we decided to head to a local hot spot to fish for pannies....This area is a great Gill bed and the action was pretty hot, Chowderhead must have had 6 befor I wet a line. We messed around with cranks and waxies

The ChowderHead tells me to grab my fly-rod and give it a try...I laugh it off but grab the road anyways...Wow..it was pretty cool, once I found the right size fly I was pulling in fish non stop. They were pounding the fly on the top, and running with it when it sank.

Alot of fun and I will be trying this again soon, Anyone else use a flyrod on pannies?

Hit pannies with Flies allthe time in Michigan. Sometimes on the beds, and other times in the summer, with a sink tip just off the edges of the drop-offs.

[RLWagner]

What kind of flies do you use wagner? Especially when fishing the drops?

I tie a foam bodied Popper with Halographic eyes for spring time, black, and yellow mostly.
For summer, I prefer to tie size 16 or so Scuds, Green and Browns, preferably with translucent V-Rib or the like. Scud lace works well too. I also tie some midges, but these are way too small to get lead wrapped around the shank for sinkability.

I started two years ago tying a wax worm/magget imitation. Some times I hang a chicken carcass in an onion sack from a local raft afloat on the lake. One that does not get used much. Within days, the bag is crawling with maggets. Thats when I use the wax worm/magget fly.

This onion sack trick works even better in a river. Hang the bag above an undercut bank or deep run. The Trout will set up shop just down from the bag until no more maggets exist. The waxie pattern can be deadly in this scenario.

[RLWagner]

thanks! I'll give it a try!

If you use the bag in a high traffic area, I would camoflage it. You can use items from the natural environment, or if you want to invest a few minutes, save a Paper wasp nest from the fall, hollow it out, and hang the bag from the inside of it. The flies will appear to be Wasps to everyone but you! This keeps your Honey Hole Sacred! Sounds crazy, but it works!

[Cobra]

Use a sponge spider/bug or popper with a nymph (#10-#16) as a dropper (as little as 6" and up to 30"+ at times) works well most of the year, even when they're deeper. Be surprised how often they'll drift up to check the surface noise, they may not want it but have no problem slurping up the nymph, almost like using a bobber at times. Love tossing a #10 or #12 Clouser or Bugger (sometimes down to #14) type around the beds or shallows. Perch, Crappie and big 'gills love minnows and many don't really believe it. Sinking tips and a Clouser do well during the warmer months. Over the years found they are more size/shape oriented for nymphs and not nearly as much in its color. They love Peacock Herl but black, browns, tan and olives are fine. Clousers? Most anything goes color wise though a natural to the lake is killer on the beds.

[mttrout]

Found one the local gills can't resist. The mosquito.