Sharpen your fly fishing skills by targeting bluegills.
I look forward to the bluegill spawn every spring. I can’t wait to get out there with my fly rod, cast over large numbers of those bream, and catch fish after fish, big bluegills, one after another. I’m not alone! Anglers all over the country, no matter what skill level, take time out to chase after this little panfish at bluegill bedding time, just like me. All types of tackle are used, mostly light spinning, and they all provide lots of fishing pleasure, but I’ve discovered over the years that the most fun way to catch bluegills by far is with the fly rod.
Bluegills are a small schooling fish, often available in large numbers in freshwater lakes, ponds, and slow moving rivers. They range country wide, frequent shorelines, eat a fly well, are usually easy to catch and can be caught in great numbers year round, not just at spawning time when they may be most concentrated with the biggest individuals available. This not only makes them a very accessible fish, but it makes them a great learning fish for the fly-rodder, and a confidence builder too. With bluegill, the beginner can make mistakes, miss fish, and with the sunfish’s usual numbers and eagerness to bite, can still catch some fish. You can’t do this with trout.
Bluegills are small, usually from 4 to 8 inches long, a 10-incher is a big fish, and actually, they fight really well for their size. Lighter weight fly rods will offer you the most sport. Standard trout tackle is good (4, 5, 6 Wt rods), and is used by most anglers. Some like even lighter 2 and 3 Wt rods and feel they have the most fun with these. I use a 5 Wt rod made by Hardy, Orvis, TFO, Echo or Redington. If you’re going to buy a fly rod solely for bluegills you don’t need the best on the market, and don’t have to spend much to catch plenty of fish. Buy a floating fly line – the weight which matches your rod. A fly reel that balances with that rod will be fine with this. A standard 7 1/2 or 9-foot tapered leader going down to a 2X – 5X tippet is fine.
Lots of different flies will catch bluegills well, poppers, dry flies, all nymphs, small streamers, Squirmy Wormies, and Wooly Buggers. This fish isn’t picky, another thing that’s nice about this fish for the novice fly-rodder or angler.
You don’t have to be a good fly caster either, because most of your fishing will be done close to you, and you will get plenty of sunfish close. In fact, you could probably roll cast for almost all your fishing here if you wanted to. You just need some semblance of accuracy, and you’d like to “turn over” your leader.
| FLY SIZING |
| Nymphs: all patterns; #10 – #14
Streamers: 1 1/2 to 3-inches long; #10 – #8 Wooly Buggers: #10 – #8; any color Rabbit Strip Jiggy: #8; 2 1/2-inches long; any color Popper: #10, #8 Squirmy Wormie: #12 – #8 |
Bluegills will be shallow from April – May, all the way into November. They’ll be most concentrated in the biggest numbers (especially with bigger fish) at spawning time (mid-May to mid-June) although you can usually find them plentiful at any time of year. During cold weather (December through April) they’ll often be in 6 to 10-foot depths. Many anglers say fishing for them is most fun during the spawn because of the incredible action with bigger fish. This is why even fishermen that concentrate primarily on other species throughout the rest of the year, such as bass anglers, divert their attention to bluegills at this time. In addition, the attraction of a delicious meal with all those bigger, easy-to-catch fish can sidetrack any freshwater angler, no matter which species he normally concentrates on. They know that if you like to eat fish, the taste of bluegill is special. And I have to say, with all the fun all these anglers have fishing bream, if they aren’t already doing it, they’d have even more fun doing it with the fly rod. There’s nothing like it!
