Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

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...

A blue sky enabled deep sunlight penetration into the clear pools of my chosen stream. Casting practice would be the only benefit of fishing then, so I reclined on a streamside log and waited for the west side bluff to cast its shadow over the fish-holding structure....

Cool evenings and low river levels have concentrated fish into smaller areas. Armed with a 4-wt. and intermediate line that sinks at 2 i.p.s. (inches per second) I waded downstream to a deep hole with a series of deadfalls. I was hopeful that fish had moved from the...