Fishing Forum

Bluegill season is upon us and I thought it would be a good idea to share some tips and tactics for bluegills. Answer these five questions or ask a few of your own questions.

#1 What are your favorite bluegill flies?

Often I find the fly that I'm fishing with doesn't matter but sometimes they can be difficult. My best dry has been the renegade. For some reason it is usually better than more technical flies that "match the hatch". When the bluegills are more aggressive I've done very well with a foam beetles. Most of the time they don't seem hard to fool with small nymphs and leaches but I haven't found any one pattern to be significantly better than others. I've done well with pheasant tails, prince, copper johns, small midge pupa and small crystal buggers.

#2 What do you find to be the best retrieve?

When they are in the shallows I just watch them and see what type of retrieve they respond to best that day. I have often found that bluegill like a long pause (sometimes 30 seconds) when retrieving a fly.

#3 What is your best bait for bluegills?
I've found an earthworm (much smaller than the typical night crawler) under a sensitive bobber to be my most effective while bait fishing . A piece of night crawler and Berkley gulp maggots have also worked well for me. I've done well with crickets but I'm not willing to take time going to the pet store or trying to catch the elusive wild cricket when worms seem to work just as well.

#4 Do you have a favorite jig(s) for bluegills? Do any colors seem to work better?
I don't have a favorite jig for bluegills. I'll normally go with brighter colors (white, chartreuse, etc) but will also use browns and blacks. Unless the bite is hot, I will tip the jig with bait (piece of night crawler, earthworm, or gulp maggot). I've done well with hand tied jigs or small tube jigs (aka crappie jigs). Normally the smaller jigs (<2" long) work best but have caught a number of bluegill on 3" curly tailed jigs.

#5 What else to you use to catch bluegills?
I've caught some larger bluegills on small spinners and small "poppers" but I normally only use these to find active bluegulls.

If you have some picture of jigs, flies, lures or bluegills please share them with the rest of us. I could post a few pictures if someone requests.
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[size 1]#1 What are your favorite bluegill flies? [/size]
[size 1] This year so far it's been a beabhead prince nymph and sug bug.[/size]
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[size 1]#2 What do you find to be the best retrieve?[/size]
[size 1] I like casting right to the edge and if I can without getting snaged, into the weed edge and slowly start stripping it in.[/size]
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[size 1]#3 What is your best bait for bluegills? [/size]
[size 1] piece of a nightcrawler[/size]
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[size 1]#4 Do you have a favorite jig(s) for bluegills? Do any colors seem to work better?[/size]
[size 1] No favorite just small and chartrues.[/size]
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[size 1]#5 What else to you use to catch bluegills? [/size]
[size 1] I like dry flies anything that floats high and is easily seen, blue damsell fly, poppers.[/size]
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[size 1]I will have to do some pic's latter.[/size]
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I love chasing the mighty bluegill with a 3 weight fly rod. Sometimes bluegill will hit anything and other times they are a bit more tricky.

In my experience when they are hitting on top it really doesn't matter all that much what fly you use. I use something that will last through scores of bluegill. My personal all time favorite is the extremely technical "sponge spider". [laugh] I have them in white, black and brown. Usually white is the best color but sometimes black does the trick. It takes a couple of minutes to tie them and they last all day. I also like small poppers. I have had a good time this spring tying various versions of the bluegill popper. There are some good kits out there that have the precut popper so that makes it easier. I use the popper in situations where there are very large bluegill and I want the little ones to miss the fly. I love casting both the sponge spider and the poppers underneath tree limbs and into the shaddows. I give them a couple of quick "pops" or twitches and then let the ripples die down then repeat. It is great to see the fin come up behind the popper and track it down. I can hear the jaws music now.[cool] Ok I better get off this subject it gets me too excited and I have to wait for the water temp to come up.

I use natural dries when I can see the pods of blue gill in open water. I have done really well with elk hair caddis but it probably doesn't matter.

For nymphs I like prince, pheasant tails, scuds, etc... bluegill sometimes really like rubber legs so if you tie a prince with some rubber legs it can really help. My all time favorite is a simple pattern called a tex favorite. I have a special place in my heart for that fly because I caught a bluegill that came within a couple of oz from the state record on it. I also tend to pick up stocker trout on the tex favorite while I am prospecting for bluegill. I generally use nymphs to find the fish when they are just off of their beds and then I try to coax them to the top with a dry.

Sorry I do not have a digital camera right now so you will have to do a google search to see the different flies.

Good Luck
Windriver
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Foam spiders, beadheads right down in the beds that they pick up just to move it out and Golden Damsel's slowly stripped across a flat of beds. I have just enough time tonight ot hit a local lake and still make it back for the Jazz game.
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