Early Gill

[NJTroutbum]

Early Gill

 

[Dave_W]

Neat! The next month is prime time to find big bluegills close to shore in lakes.

 

[Wildbrowntrout]

Nice picture! Dave, what kind of flies would be a good idea for them? I was up at my cabin and caught some that look like the size of the one in the picture with a small bugger.

 

[Jessed]

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo39/jessedavis47/C65BA708-57E3-430E-A1BE-5650426B50DA_zpshmisysw7.jpg

They were already spawning in this pond! After looking at this Ibwas laughing about all the access line!

 

[Jessed]

If you can find heavily weighted marabou flies they would be perfect. There a man maid pond I fish that's has 2 feet of 2 foot of water and drops of 25 feet and it's always totally clear. The bluegills spawn there all summer and I find marabou jigs a better option because they are heavily weighted and can bounce them off the bottom. Other places the blue gills will eat a plain hook. Rubber legs, marabou, flashy, and noisy flys with lots of movement are awesome for big gills.

 

[Jessed]

Man made*

 

[Dave_W]

Wildbrowntrout wrote:
Dave, what kind of flies would be a good idea for them?

My favorite fly set-up for springtime 'gills is a foam or deer hair dry fly with a weighted nymph dropped a couple feet below it. The surface fly gets a lot of hits (and misses) but the nymph sticks most of the fish. Any nymph will work but it should be lightly weighted to get down as you will be fishing around a lot of brushy or weedy shoreline cover. I like my sunfish nymphs long and very slender and usually bright colored. A long shank hook helps as 'gills really tend to swallow flies and with their tiny mouths, getting a long shank hook out is much easier. I like #16 streamer hooks. They're a bit hard to find in this size but such hooks are ideal for bluegill nymphs.

 

[NJTroutbum]

I do 90% of my gill fishing with foam butt caddis twitched across the surface. Spring fishing ill add a #12-10 little crappie fly on an 18" dropper.