Went to the ponds yesterday after some more casting practice. The trout ponds had just been stocked by F&G and the crowds were surprising for a weekday. I snuck my way back to the warm water ponds where I didn’t see anyone else.
The bluegill (and quite a few LMB) were schooled up under some russian olives. I lost several flies trying to get into them, but finally made my way out to a little stump where I was able to get fairly clean casts between trees to where the fish were. Most of the time. BTW, there are a couple of trees that could have some very profitable pruning if someone was going to reclaim some flies.
I know, it would be better if I broke the rod in on some wild rainbows or browns, but I wasn’t complaining. Caught around a dozen bluegill and one small LMB. The bluegill ranged in size from pretty good to yank them out of the water when setting the hook.
I know, not the most “noble” fly fishing, but I enjoyed the heck out of myself. Built up a little confidence and improved my casting quite a bit. I especially enjoyed the hungrier fish. Several times I could actually hear them taking the fly. It was kind of a rush even if it was “just” bluegill.
Thanks for all the help everyone’s given me so far. I can see how this is going to be addictive.
I didn’t know the species of fish would bestow nobility upon the fisherman[;)][;)]. Looks like a blast to me. I love bluegill and bass. Fly fishing for bluegill is getting more popular all the time. Thanks for the pics!
Bluegill are great fun, and tasty too!!! I love catching pan fish. I think that for their size bluegill fight way harder than trout. Can you imagine what catching a 15 inch bluegill would be like??
True, bluegill are tasty, but I don’t have a knack for cleaning them, so all of these ones got to go back home. It doesn’t help that most of them I catch are pretty small. I’d love to find a place in the area where I can catch bigger 'gills.
Reference a 15" bluegill, that would be something. Although, tell you the truth, I can’t remember off the top of my head what a 15" trout is like, either Time will tell.
Bluegill are a blast to catch, but can also offer much frustration to the beginner fisherman. I have found that Rooster tail works the best for me to land the larger Bluegills in the lake. I recently came across a great article about Bluegill Fishing that has lots of good advice. Small dry poppers also produce well when I know that there are a lot of hungry Bluegill feeding on the surface. Search for the large circular rings that they form while they are nesting, I always find big Bluegills when I find the nests.
Great job !!! Just keep going ! It will just get better and
better.
I fly fish for LMB and bluegill a lot. Bluegills fight very hard.
Once you get into big males in spring time you will see
what I mean…
Time will tell.