Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

Several cool evenings have invigorated the bluegill populations. They are spending longer periods on and near the shallow flats feeding to build reserves for the coming winter. Olive Bully's Bluegill Spiders cast to the edge of the flats and counted down (one thousand...

Streams that flow into reservoirs host migrating fish intent on feeding heavily before the onset of winter. Armed with a 5 wt. and Mini Minnies, I waded downstream to a shaded deep hole with a multi-tentacled deadfall. Many presentations that were counted down to a...

Carrying a 3 wt., floating line, a 9' leader tapered to 4X, and a size-10 black Bully Spider, I crunched across a gravel bar in search of Green Sunfish and Longear Sunfish. Deadfalls divert the current from protected pockets in the long pool chosen for my first casts....

A hunt for big bass sent me to a pond armed with an 8 wt., 4 i.p.s. (inches per second) sinking line, and a 4-ft. length of 16-lb. tippet, and our H.O.T. (acronym for "Hold On Tight") Streamer in the sunfish pattern. Along the face of the dam I counted the fly down...

Recent rain showers left our nearby stream stained, which raised concern that the fish would be unable to locate our flies visually. Our Ozark Woolly Bugger, with its bead head, was the logical choice for "rock-banging" presentations. It would enable smallmouths to...

A falling barometer meant the pond's microorganisms would be rising to the surface and that minnows and small baitfish would follow. In turn, the bass and bluegills would follow. A black sponge spider with red and black banded legs proved to be the magic bullet for...