You can contact Dennis at: DSmith7136@msn.com
My Bluegills
My cousin Al used to say of fishing that, “It’s all fun; some is just funner - and fly fishing for bluegills is the funnest of all.” Obviously, Al wasn’t concerned about butchering language if it suited his purpose. His colorful description aside, where fly fishing for bluegills is concerned Al was dead-center, spot-on: No other form of piscatorial pursuit produces more belly laughs and fits of gut-busting giggles than a day on a panfish pond armed with a few popping bugs, some wet flies and a light fly rod. At times, the action can be almost relentless.
The bluegill is only one of a large family of sunfishes, many of which are not only colorful in appearance but wear colorful names as well: Shellcracker, spotted bream, calico perch, longeared sunfish, pumpkinseed and stumpknocker being a few of the more descriptive monikers assigned to the various species. Fishermen tend to lump them all under the generic heading of bluegill, the most popular and widely distributed of the sunfishes. It is the only sunfish species found in all of the lower forty-eight contiguous states, many of the others are restricted to states east of the Mississippi River or the Deep South.
Bluegills, shellcrackers (redeared sunfish), green sunfish and pumpkinseeds are generally found in good numbers throughout Colorado in suitable habitat, and while they can be caught year round on an infinite variety of live and artificial baits, the best bluegill fishing occurs in late spring or early summer when water temperatures approach the mid-to-high sixties. Depending on location and local weather patterns, that can be anytime from April to July. This temperature range coincides with an increase in available food organisms, increased fish metabolism (they get hungrier) and triggers their spawning activity, during which the feisty devils become aggressive almost to the point of belligerence.
The males fan out nests in shallow water from about one-half to 4 feet deep on sand or gravelly bottoms sweeping them free of debris with violent swishing of their bodies and tails. The shallow depressions which some say resemble underwater elephant tracks, range from 2 to 6-inches deep and 1 to 2-feet in diameter. Though 18,000 is considered average, a single nest may hold up to as many as 60,000 eggs - not necessarily all laid by the same female. Regardless, the males care for all of them by fanning the eggs lightly to aerate them and keep them clean. More significant, they attack and rive off all intruders - which may include predator fish, other bluegills from adjacent nests, leeches, insects and - ta da! - the fly fisherman’s popping bug or wet fly.
Bluegill anglers anxiously wait for the spawn to begin and then search out the colonies, carefully plopping their popping bugs, wet flies or other imitations near the nests. If they’ve done their job right, their flies will be met with a vicious strike and the fight is on.
Perhaps most surprising of all is that, in addition to being extremely prolific, readily available in almost every warm water lake or pond, perpetually hungry and phenomenally aggressive, bluegills are tenacious battlers. Ounce for ounce they’re as strong as any fish that swims, and put up a battle far out of proportion to their size. Further, their white flaky meat is sublimely delicious. The daily limit in Colorado is 20 fish, but the fillets from a half dozen fat 8-inchers served with hush puppies and Coleslaw will feed two adults nicely. So launch your belly boat on a farm pond, cast a rubber bug, catch a bunch of bluegills and keep a few for the pan. It’s about the “funnest” fishing there is.
Dennis Smith is an Outdoor Writer and Photographer. His articles and photos have appeared in numerous outdoor publications, catalogs and newspapers. Dennis can be reached at (970) 669-6074. Want to know more about Dennis?