Fly Fishing for Bluegill

By
Dave Dyer

My fly line stretched out over the glass calm pond with a black sponge spider in tow. The spider touched down lightly on the pond's mirror surface, creating a series of circular wakes around it. Just as the wakes dissipated and the pond’s surface was smooth again, SNAP! The spider was attacked by a feisty bluegill. I instinctively reared back, setting the hook. My rod tip came alive; dancing as the slab bluegill darted about, trying to shake the needle sharp hook. Defiantly the hand sized gill came to hand and I quickly released him to fight another day.

Bluegill are my favorite fish to fly fish for. They do not get all the glamorous press like trout do, but they every bit as sporting a fish as the trout. Bluegill are very aggressive and eagerly attack dry flies throughout the day. I love to use light, 2 and 3 weight fly rods when pursuing bluegill. These feather light rods are more like wands in my hand rather than fly rods. A weight forward floating line is all an angler will ever need for bluegill. The small dry flies and nymphs I like to use to fool the gills into striking also cast effortlessly with light weight fly rods.

A wide variety of flies will trick bluegill into striking. Sponge spiders are my favorite dry flies. I prefer black ones with white rubber legs in a size 12. Yellow bodied poppers with black hackle are top producers. I prefer poppers from #12 to # 8. Many natural insect replicating dry flies will also trigger strikes from Bluegills. A few of my favorites are elk hair caddis and blue winged olives. In late summer and early fall terrestrial insects get the nod form fly fishers. # 6 and 8 hopper patterns and #14 black ants are top choices.

My favorite wet flies for bluegill are pheasant tails, tied with a partridge soft hackle, prince nymphs, and hairs ears. Wet flies are best tied on a #12 or 14 hook. One of my top producing methods for the taking of bluegill is the dry fly with a wet fly dropper tandem rig. When gills get too shy to strike a surface pattern they will often take a small wet fly just below the surface. When the Bluegill are feeding aggressively one can hook two at a time with a tandem rig.