The sunfish family is probably the single most species of fish responsible for getting new anglers started in fishing. Sunfish, bream or panfish is a common collective name to refer to the many species that make up the sunfish family. Sunfish refers to a whole group of small fish that are pretty, plentiful and pugnacious. They aren�t the biggest fish but as they say it�s not the size of the fish in the fight that counts; it�s the size of the fight in the fish. Fishing for these guys is a ball on a slow fly rod like a TFO 3wt Finesse or your favorite glass rod. Sunfish are deep-bodied, which gives them a lot of surface area to leverage against the water during a fight and with their flat, slender bodies and fins they can accelerate and change direction quickly. The best thing about fishing for sunfish is you only need the most basic equipment. A 2, 3 or 4 weight fly rod is ideal, a click pawl reel and a standard weight forward floating line. Fly rods can be 6-9 foot because rarely will you be casting pass a few rod lengths. A medium to slow rod will be the most sporting and will allow these feisty fish to put a good bend into the cork of the rod. A very basic eight foot leader in 4x tipped with the most popular fly in the world a wooly bugger. Olive, black or brown wooly buggers in size 10-14 will catch gills all day long. Very rarely are these fish picky on flies and when you find a few dozen of them on their classic honey comb beds; it�s a rear occasion to not get a hit after two or three strips. Sunfish are found everywhere, from small creeks, neighborhood ponds, lakes, rivers and don�t pass up some of the small landscaping ponds found around shopping malls, banks and other suburban areas. Spawning from late spring to early fall these fish will populate any body of water they live in rather quickly. The best time to find the biggest females is the days leading up to the full moon. This is when they move up to spawn and can be target quiet easily on a fly rod. Typically these bigger fish will only be up in the shallows at night and at grey light. You�ll catch fish all day long on the beds but if you are looking for Bullgills, it is best to come back during the night to target these fish. Bullgills are the biggest of the bluegills and will break 10� and weigh over a pond. The current Texas state record bluegill is just over 2lbs and was caught in the Lampasas River in 1999. There are many private bass ponds where these fish are fed high protein pellets several times a day and for the private water record in Texas the current record is over 3lbs. I�m sure many have been caught even bigger but the bluegill in these ponds are meant to grow big bass and probably don�t get much consideration for anything else.

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Yeah, Buddy! Love, love LOVE me some bream on the flyrod.
You can find them in just about any puddle of water, and they *usually* are not very particular what they will try to eat. Throw whatever trout flies you have. You don't need special flies. That being said, a yellow foam spider or gurgler variation will drive them nuts.
When they are up on the beds, fish off of the deep side out past the beds for the staging fish. Magic.

2Fly, that is a gorgeous pic.

BTW, it's a full moon now. Sic 'em!

Kirk

thanks Kirk

I got this one last night. Will probably go tonight and chase some more, I've got a bed located that is covered in monsters right now. Lots of bass currently on the beds right now to. the only bad thing about night fishing is the quality of pictures suck. But 10" bluegill doesn't.

very nice!

+1, I tie a gurgler/spider hybrid fly with silly legs and it drives them crazy. Yellow or chartreuse have also been far more successful for me over white, orange or other colors.

Also, my personal preference for subsurface fishing is the Briminator.

2FlyFish4, Great information and great pictures. I didn't catch many fish during the day over this last full moon period. I need to plan a night trip during the next full moon. Do you have any tips on night fishing?

the best tips I can give will be to go scout the area out during the day so you have a general idea of how you need to fish it during the night. The best night spots are open and don't give you any back cast issues like snagging your fly on brush or trees.
i like to use larger flies denerally during the night. like size 8-12, my favorite rig is a size 8-10 black bugger and then about 12-18" behind that i will trail a size 10-12 black bugger.
as far as the technigue, one that i have found to be extremely effective is to cast your flies out, with your rod tip down near the water slowly raise you rod tip to the 12 o'clock position. when i say slow this process from 8-12 o'clock should take up to 30 seconds.
if you don't get a bit just roll cast your flies back out there and start the process over again.

Great information, Thanks

Are there certain periods of night that are better than others? Like before midnight vs. after midnight?

Also, do you utilize lights?

typically not b/c i generally only night fish for gills during a full moon and the moon light gives me enough light to do everything i need. but a small head lamp would not be a bad idea to have incase you got into any trouble

I'm a bluegill lover too. I catch them out of the Brazos on a 4wt pretty much year round. Only when the water is really cold do I have trouble getting them to bite.

A bully spider is my fly of choice, although I will also put a 1" gulp minnow on a No. 6 hook and they'll go nuts for that too. In 1972 I was home on leave while in the Army and I caught a 2.5lb bluegill out of a local stock tank. I caught it with a spinning rig while bass fishing. I thought I had a 10lb bass on from the fight it gave me. I didn't think about it being a record while my family and I ate it that night.

They're not just my favorite warm water fish to catch, they are my favorite warm water fish to eat too. I release 99.99999% of them, but on that rare occasion when I do keep fish to eat, it's always bluegills that I keep.

I had to check out the Bully spider pattern. I will definitely tie some of those.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBOGGGo4iAg

I found it in this book, a great book by the way: http://www.amazon.com/Bluegill-Fishing-F...ng+for+bluegill

Interesting, the person on the video said he found it in the same or similar book.

The author of the book also invented that fly. There's a pretty good story that goes along with it, about how he accidentally hooked a bull on a back cast...