1st Fish of 2012.

[nastygunz]

Caught on a Mcginty fly:

[bushman]

Nice - I love panfish on a 2wt fly rod. Big bluegill will take a small bass popper too, but I like a parachute adams or any surface fly for that matter.

A technique I use now is to let it sit, twitch it and wait for up to a minute before twitching again - the big ones seem to watch it for a while before deciding to hit it.

Thanks for sharing.

[nastygunz]

They are a blast to catch, I use a 2 weight also, love catching them on dry flies, the big ones put up a heckuva fight ! I like using very small streamers on them also.

[bushman]

Have not tried the streamers yet - sounds like fun though.

[ecgreen]

Looks good! My buddy and I took out the new canoe last sat and cleaned up catching big bluegills and perch. Spring is here, or so I thought...

As for fly fishing gills, I have had a tough time getting the big ones on the surface. Streamers are the way to go underwater!

[bushman]

Foam poppers just left on the surface are great tempters for the big gills. The small fish may nibble at it, but if it's a decent sized popper only the big fish can swallow it. Like I said before leaving it on the water for a long time without movement seems to trigger something in the big fish and eventually they nail it. Had similar luck with crappies.

Landing a 10 inch bluegill on a 2or3 wt fly rod in the lily pads is going to be a formidable task. Good luck :-)

[ecgreen]

Thanks for the tips bushman, I will definitely give that a try.

Pound for pound a big bull bluegill is one of the toughest fights out there. Imagine fighting a ten pound male bluegill! Would make a bass seem like a little wuss.

[nastygunz]

I agree on letting it sit still I have noted that before. I nail perch and crappie on streamers also.