The Basics For Bluegill lll

[Stan Fagerstrom]

The Basics For Bluegill
By Stan Fagerstrom
Part Three

In this third and final column dealing with fishing for bluegills let’s take a look at taking them with a fly rod.
Flies won't work as well in as many different situations as the miniature jig and curly tailed plastic worms we talked about in the last column. But be assured you can have a ball catching bluegill with the long rod when conditions are right.

As I covered in the last column, your gear must be scaled down to match the size of the fish you are after. My favorite fly rods for that purpose range from 7 to 8-feet. Fly-fishing for bluegill isn’t long range action. If you can cast 30 feet, you’ll do just fine. Be sure the leaders you select have a tippet testing from two four pounds.

What I've said about finding bluegill while using spinning gear also applies to fly-fishing. You've got to find them before you can catch them. Once you do get them pinned down, you’re in for a fun day.


Where you find one bluegill you'll often find others. The spot I'm fishing in the above photo was loaded with the little buggers. I've caught hundreds of them in just this one area.

I recall an occasion years ago when I’d just come in from fly fishing for bluegill one day on my home lake. A well-known Seattle photographer happened to be at the dock when I came in. He was in the process of producing a film for the Evergreen State’s Parks Department. He saw the nice string of bluegill I’d brought in. He expressed his regret that he hadn’t been around to shoot pictures of me catching them.

"Don’t sweat it,” I said, "it's no problem. Get in another boat and follow me back out there and I'll catch some more for you." Now making a statement like that where fish are concerned is a good way to wind up with gravy in your whiskers, but the fish had still been hitting when I quit and I knew right where they were. The photographer followed as we went back to the same spot. I caught a fish on the first cast and many more after that. The photographer wound up with just what he wanted.

Your days won't always go that well, of course, with the fly rod or anything else. But there are things you can do to bend the odds in your favor. The first is to stick to Number 10 fly sizes. Carry dark, light and in between shades in your fly patterns. A Number 10 is small enough for the bluegills to get hold of easily. Go down in size and you’ll be forever hooking little guys you don’t want to mess with. Go larger and the ‘gills won’t be able to get it into their tiny mouths.


Catching bluegill like these on a light fly rod is just plain fun. It's also a super way to polish your fly fishing skills.


This is my favorite fly pattern for bluegill.
A black ant and sponge bodied spiders are also good choices.

One of my all time favorites is my own version of the McGinty. I tie it with a red tag and alternate bands of brown and yellow yarn. I finish it off with sparse brown hackle. Another favorite is a black ant.
Don't be in a hurry to do anything with whatever pattern you’re using after you’ve made a cast. Get your fly out there, then let it sink through the surface film. When you begin your retrieve bring the fly back with little twitches of the line. I do that by holding the rod in my left hand rather than working the rod tip. Be especially alert each time you twitch the line. That's when your strikes are most likely to come. There will be times when sponge-bodied spiders or tiny poppers catch fish off the surface. That's the most fun of all and it's always worth a try to find out if the fish will feed that way. As in any kind of fishing, don’t hesitate to experiment in fly-fishing for bluegill. Try your poppers, but if they don’t work don’t stick with them for hours on end. Try a different approach. Bluegills aren’t usually all that finicky. Sooner or later you’ll find what they want.

I haven’t intentionally killed a bass in years. I've made some friends and relatives unhappy by not bringing home largemouth I put in the boat. I killed my share of them decades ago when those wonderful fish didn’t face the ever building pressures they do today. Bass are a slow growing fish, particularly in areas like the Pacific Northwest where the growing season is relatively short. It might take years to grow a 4-pound largemouth.

It's a different story with bluegill. One of the dangers with bluegill can be over population. One lake I fished as a young man was loaded with yellow perch. Later the bluegill became even more numerous. They are among the most prolific of panfish. It doesn't hurt to invite some to dinner.

If you decide to do that don't fool around attempting to scale each fish. Cut off the dorsal and a strip of skin along the top of the back. Next slice through the skin in back of the gill covers on both sides of the fish. Use a pair of nippers to pull the skin back toward the tail. Once you do that, cut the head halfway off. Now pull the head off with your hand and the guts will come out along with it. Use a lightweight pair of canvas gloves while you're cleaning your bluegill. You’ll find it simplifies the task by at least 50 per cent. Roll the skinned fish in cracker crumbs and flour and pop it into the frying pan. Fresh bluegill prepared in such fashion and served along with hot French bread, coleslaw and a glass of chilled white wine will have your tastebuds doing the cha-cha-cha and begging for more. The Good Lord created bass to teach fishermen humility. I suspect He gave us bluegill to make up for the frustration He knew those bass would bring. He also made them for eating. As said in my last column, if you know your butt from a barracuda, you've got to have a high regard for bluegill. And if you don't know about them now, I envy you the fun you'll have when you do!