Possibly a fly fisherman now

[ditchbanker]

Went to the ponds yesterday after some more casting practice. The trout ponds had just been stocked by F&G and the crowds were surprising for a weekday. I snuck my way back to the warm water ponds where I didn't see anyone else.

The bluegill (and quite a few LMB) were schooled up under some russian olives. I lost several flies trying to get into them, but finally made my way out to a little stump where I was able to get fairly clean casts between trees to where the fish were. Most of the time. BTW, there are a couple of trees that could have some very profitable pruning if someone was going to reclaim some flies.

I know, it would be better if I broke the rod in on some wild rainbows or browns, but I wasn't complaining. Caught around a dozen bluegill and one small LMB. The bluegill ranged in size from pretty good to yank them out of the water when setting the hook.

Here was my first fish on a fly rod:



And here was one of the bigger ones. The bluegill don't get that big in there, and this was one of the larger I've caught:



I know, not the most "noble" fly fishing, but I enjoyed the heck out of myself. Built up a little confidence and improved my casting quite a bit. I especially enjoyed the hungrier fish. Several times I could actually hear them taking the fly. It was kind of a rush even if it was "just" bluegill.

Thanks for all the help everyone's given me so far. I can see how this is going to be addictive.
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[flygoddess]

Bluegill are awesome. Like pulling up a frying pan. Nice colors too.
Keep up the great work!
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[wagdog]

I didn't know the species of fish would bestow nobility upon the fisherman[][]. Looks like a blast to me. I love bluegill and bass. Fly fishing for bluegill is getting more popular all the time. Thanks for the pics!
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[cpierce]

Bluegill are great fun, and tasty too!!! I love catching pan fish. I think that for their size bluegill fight way harder than trout. Can you imagine what catching a 15 inch bluegill would be like??
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[ditchbanker]

True, bluegill are tasty, but I don't have a knack for cleaning them, so all of these ones got to go back home. It doesn't help that most of them I catch are pretty small. I'd love to find a place in the area where I can catch bigger 'gills.

Reference a 15" bluegill, that would be something. Although, tell you the truth, I can't remember off the top of my head what a 15" trout is like, either Time will tell.
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[Adam-fisher]

Bluegill are a blast to catch, but can also offer much frustration to the beginner fisherman. I have found that Rooster tail works the best for me to land the larger Bluegills in the lake. I recently came across a great article about [url "http://fishingforbeginners.net/bluegill-fishing/"]Bluegill Fishing[/url] that has lots of good advice. Small dry poppers also produce well when I know that there are a lot of hungry Bluegill feeding on the surface. Search for the large circular rings that they form while they are nesting, I always find big Bluegills when I find the nests.
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[peter805]

Great job !!!! Just keep going ! It will just get better and
better.
I fly fish for LMB and bluegill a lot. Bluegills fight very hard.
Once you get into big males in spring time you will see
what I mean......[]

Peter
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