Fly fishing for bluegill

[EGbassing]

Does anyone else fly fish for bluegill/crappie/small bass? I've been fishing some dry flies intended for trout recently and had a lot of luck using those.  

[desmobob]

I do!  I think one of most relaxing fishing experiences is to sit in a float tube on a summer day with a 2wt or 3wt fly rod fishing for sunfish.  But I don't waste good trout flies... there's not much better than simple foam spiders tied with craft foam and rubber legs.  They are quick, easy and cheap and sunfish can't resist them.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[bish0p]

Poppers also work well.

[Bluebasser86]

Don't need anything fancy for gills. I use some bargain bin flies that kind of look like a black house fly without the wings. Bluegills, sunfish, and the occasionally bass or catfish love them. 

[N Florida Mike]

Haven't done it in years, but when I did, any kind of fly in white worked well...

[Ratherbfishing]

When the bluegills are on their beds, there are few things that are more fun!  I'm sure dry flies work fine but I have always used poppers and foam spiders.  Sometimes color matters and sometimes it doesn't.  There's nothing more fun, especially, than having a big bull bluegill get airborne as it socks a fly. 

[flyfisher]

https://breambugs.com/product/ligon-bream-killer-fly-black/

 

This is the fly i use 99% of the time when targeting sunnies.  I have also caught quite a few largemouth and smallmouth and carp on the same fly.  

[Gundog]

In the dead of summer, when its even too hot for bass, I head to a local lake with my fly rod and some spiders. Its fun and simple fishing. Nothing fancy, no boat or tackle box. Just a fly rod, vest and bottle of water. I can catch about 20 or 30 sunfish in a couple hours and its enjoyable. 

[Jigfishn10]

I haven't done it in a while but I used my 5 wt rod and used to tie up Royal Wulffs and had a blast with gills. Man, I may have to do that again this year. I had a blast!

 

Thanks for the post.

[desmobob]

If anyone who doesn't currently own fly fishing gear is thinking about trying it, you don't need expensive gear!  Believe it or not, Eagle Claw's Featherlight fiberglass fly rods, at less than thirty bucks, have a sort of small, cult following among fly fishermen.  Add a cheap single-action fly reel for less than twenty bucks, a decent fly line for thirty, a leader and some tippet material for five more, and the cheapest flies you can find, and you're good to go for about $80.

 

There are loads of good instructional videos on line to get you up to speed on rigging and casting.  Trying to learn to fly fish on a trout stream can be tough.  Learning on still waters, targeting panfish, is a blast.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[MN Fisher]

26 minutes ago, desmobob said:

There are loads of good instructional videos on line to get you up to speed on rigging and casting.  Trying to learn to fly fish on a trout stream can be tough.  Learning on still waters, targeting panfish, is a blast.

Listen to 'The Bob' - casting a fly line is a whole different animal from anything else. You have to get a rhythm going and dropping that fly/popper in the right location takes practice, practice, practice.

 

I did do fly fishing for trout and panfish years ago, so I do know of what I speak. I even tied my own.

[bagofdonuts]

I love it and wading the local creeks in the summer for sunfish and bass. Foam spider and the cheap wal-mart poppers work for me. I tried some pretty fancy hopper imitations, but the foam ant is hard to beat for blue gill.

 

[Gundog]

What I've found is most flyfisherman will gladly give lessons on flycasting. If you don't know anything about flyfishing just find a chapter of Trout Unlimited or a neighbor who knows how to flyfish and most times they are more than happy to teach people new to the style. I learned at a outdoor show how to do basic casts. After that I ran into a flyfisherman stream side who instructed me in what I was doing wrong. 

[InFishingWeTrust]

I just set my fly rod up after years of colloecting dust. 

[Mobasser]

I do! In mid to late summer,flyrodding for panfish is great fun. Early morning is best for me. I use an old 5wt rod and inexpensive poppers, foam spiders,  and cheap trout flies. Not many folks in my area do this, but they are missing out. An added plus is that panfish are plentiful, and the fillets are delicious.  Good luck

[scaleface]

I use poppers and little sinking honey bee flies . I was fishing one day and noticed a lot of honey bees in the shore-line flowers and remember having a couple in this little kit i bought .  The bluegills tore them up .

[EGbassing]

2 hours ago, scaleface said:

I use poppers and little sinking honey bee flies . I was fishing one day and noticed a lot of honey bees in the shore-line flowers and remember having a couple in this little kit i bought .  The bluegills tore them up .

Do they tend to swallow the poppers? I have a #10 booglebug from Orvis but the one time I used it, a little one choked it. The problem is, it was as wide as it's mouth, so it took me about a full minute to get it out with forceps...

[scaleface]

Sometimes they will take it deep , most of the time no   problem .

[Bladesmith,]

I use a 5 wt. for gills. Just about any kind of fly will catch them. I mainly use foam spiders and wooly worms that I tie myself on long shanked #8 or 6 hooks. The occasional bass is always exciting.