I've continued to experiment with subsurface fly patterns that will produce in these summer time conditions. In particular for catching Bluegill.
I tied up a crawfish pattern on a size 8 hook. I used the dark orange crawfish colored rabbit hair. As soon as it hit the water they attacked it for the first 5 or 6 casts but were short striking it. I cut down the claws and kept fishing but no more bites.
So I tied up another smaller crawfish and also a size 10 briminator in the crawfish orange. I went back out to the Lake, tied on the crawfish fly and had the same results. Until the rabbit fur gets wet the fly will not sink properly. The bluegill were striking at it during that period. Once the fur got wet and heavy and the fly started sinking to the bottom quickly the bluegill didn't strike at it near as often.
Finally, I tied on the dark crawfish orange size 10 Briminator. That was ticket. I was able to catch fish at about the same rate as using a small popper.
Looking back on my research and experience there are some things that stand out when fly fishing for Bluegill.
Michael Verduin said that he always tied his cap spiders on size 1/124th because of the slow rate of descent. I also noticed that when I am fishing for bluegill with a Briminator that the slower I strip it, the better the results. I personally find that I often catch more fish on my poppers if I throw them out, let them sit, twitch or strip them, and then let them sit again. In addition, bluegill feed up, like a crappie. So by going from a size 8 to size 10 Briminator, without any weight added, I was able to keep the fly in the upper part of the water column and in their feeding zone. This was particularly evident in shallower water.
As far as the color, most people believe it is far less important than shape, size, etc. But reading reports of other people having great success with orange clousers, crawfish patterns, etc. gave me confidence in the bait.
I suspect that heavy craw fish pattern will work well on Red Ear. I'll definitely give it a try in some of the water bodies I fish that have red ear.