Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
For ponds I prefer my "gills". I'll often fish a dry or dry/dropper for them in warmer water and run a tandem rig that may include a brightly colored mop fly and a stillwater nymph. For summer I like chubby Chernobyls and other terrestrials. I will trail with these with size 16-14 hard body (epoxy) ant (killer pattern for bluegill!). I also like tossing spiders and poppers up top. I'll typically start off with a hopper/dropper style rig and then switch over to a popper at night for an easier to spot profile and not having to add floatant like I do with all my foam-bodied terrestrials. I do all of my pond fishing on a floating line as even an intermediate line would sink too quickly and I like the ease of picking floating line off of the water as opposed to having to pull out any intermediate or sinking/sink tip style line. I have a blast catching bluegill and am now taking in lighter line wt rods to have more fun with them as opposed to taking my usual 9ft 4wt pond rod that has substantially more performance value.
If you think catching the larger bluegills is easy, it's not. A good presentation and retrieve are paramount to getting the big ones to bite. A 10 inch bluegill is fairly old and you'd be surprised how wary and picky these fish can be. I just shut them down at a local reservoir. Caught around 4 in the 10 inch category and my two fishing buddies caught about the same amount. Now they have seemed to wise up to Mr. Booglebug and it's back to the drawing boards.
For creeks, redbreasts are my target and the appear to be in a great abundance in SEPA. The Brandywine is full of em' as well as the occasional yellow perch, fallfish, or dace. I typically pick these fish up while indicator nymphing for chubs/fallfish (sometimes an annoying stocker will latch itself onto one of my flies). The Schuylkill has a lot of redbreasts, about the only thing that swims in that river besides people and cats. I think redbreasts are the best fighters in the panfish bracket. I love their vibrant colors and attitude! During spawning in late spring, these fish are hyper-active and will crush anything that dares to pass through their beds. Such a joy to catch. @jifigz is correct in his assessment of stating that redbreasts are greater than rockbass. Although I don't mind rockbass as they have an interesting scale pattern and red eyes, they are probably the weakest fighting panfish, sharing their laziness with largemouth it seems.
Overall I have no shame in my game stating that I absolutely love panfish, to the point of acquiring high end setups to make combatting them more enjoyable. Redbreasts fight HARD as well as larger bluegill. Hook a 10 inch bluegill and you will be in for a fight on light tackle! Anyone who turns their nose up to a good panfishing session is a fool I say! Panfish are paramount in this sport and have probably introduced more people into the sport of angling as a whole than any other species.
If you think catching the larger bluegills is easy, it's not. A good presentation and retrieve are paramount to getting the big ones to bite. A 10 inch bluegill is fairly old and you'd be surprised how wary and picky these fish can be. I just shut them down at a local reservoir. Caught around 4 in the 10 inch category and my two fishing buddies caught about the same amount. Now they have seemed to wise up to Mr. Booglebug and it's back to the drawing boards.
For creeks, redbreasts are my target and the appear to be in a great abundance in SEPA. The Brandywine is full of em' as well as the occasional yellow perch, fallfish, or dace. I typically pick these fish up while indicator nymphing for chubs/fallfish (sometimes an annoying stocker will latch itself onto one of my flies). The Schuylkill has a lot of redbreasts, about the only thing that swims in that river besides people and cats. I think redbreasts are the best fighters in the panfish bracket. I love their vibrant colors and attitude! During spawning in late spring, these fish are hyper-active and will crush anything that dares to pass through their beds. Such a joy to catch. @jifigz is correct in his assessment of stating that redbreasts are greater than rockbass. Although I don't mind rockbass as they have an interesting scale pattern and red eyes, they are probably the weakest fighting panfish, sharing their laziness with largemouth it seems.
Overall I have no shame in my game stating that I absolutely love panfish, to the point of acquiring high end setups to make combatting them more enjoyable. Redbreasts fight HARD as well as larger bluegill. Hook a 10 inch bluegill and you will be in for a fight on light tackle! Anyone who turns their nose up to a good panfishing session is a fool I say! Panfish are paramount in this sport and have probably introduced more people into the sport of angling as a whole than any other species.
