Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

Gray skies, coupled with a forecast high of 36 degrees, lured me to a small spring creek in the hope that bass had been drawn there. The spring emits 54-degree water year round, and that warmth would raise the fish's metabolism and increase their need to feed. An...

What fly would get your vote as being the best fly ever created? For most, that would likely be the fly that catches the most fish. But that might depend on the species you are targeting, so let's extend our definition to include only multi-species flies. Another...

A 60-degree day with full sun forced me to enjoy a small pond in the hope that the warmth would entice bluegills to suspend a couple of feet over deep water. It's a pattern I have fished many times before, but it usually occurs in late winter or very early spring. If...

Rain that raised the stream level enough to quicken the flow and persistent gusty winds forced a switch to Plan B. An upstream hike ground a long river bend brought me to a ridge that shielded my 5-weight's casts to a series of deadfalls that harbored slack water...

After several unseasonably warm days, I waded a favorite stretch of river armed with a 3-weight rod. A size-12 oft hackle was knotted to a 5X tippet and cast into clear water that exposed the rocky substrate. As the fly settled, I gathered the line preparing to impart...

A 3-weight rod accompanied a late afternoon trip to a stream that is home to some large green sunfish. Interested in enticing a surface bite, I knotted a size-10 brown Bivisible to a 5X tippet and cast toward the rocky shoreline. As I had hoped, the action came...