There was this great idea/technique in a magazine i read...(field and stream) and it WORKS INCREDIBLY GOOD -
You get a jig and tie it on just as regular as usual, then put a cork/bobber on the line. The length of the bobber from the jig should be to where when you reel it in slowly it should just tickle the grass,weeds or just whatever cover is along the bottom of the area you are fishing.
The rest is pretty simple, while reeling it slowly in, stop a little, twitch a little, and just vary your retrieve every now and then.

Tell me what yall all think and i hope it works for yall as good as i did.

Used to do that on a lake in Wyoming when we were kids. We would wade out far enough to cast to the grass where the gills were spawning. We filled up 5 gallon buckets day after day with gills.We would use a small weighted fly with light spinning gear and a bobber, and if you put a little peice of nightcrawler on the end of the hook they will hold on to a little bit longer increasing your catch 10X.

Sorry, but it is far from new. Yes it works but a fly instead of a jig works even better under the bobber....and clear bobbers designed for that type of fishing are generally best because you can add water to them for extra weight for casting.

Never tried using flies for gill fishing. And i guess i gotta get some of those bobbers you wher talkin about.thanks

Do you use a bobber stop when fishing this way?

Wow - I kind of thought I "invented" that technique just last night. Guess I should have known better. Anything that can be done has probably been tried. But it did work pretty well for me last night, fishing in a little community pond. I started without the bobber, but decided to give it a try, rather than continue to get my hook caught in anything & everything on the bottom.

We always used stick bobbers so you could see it start to pick up out of the water when you started to get a bite.

That works great in the winter time on wrc for crappie and sand bass.

wait a sec! has anyone seen the commercial for the rocket fishing pole? same concept...but it shoots a cartridge 50ft and when it hits the water a jig pops out the bottom of the cartridge and the cartridge it self acts like a bobber...thought about getting my kid one..lol

Say what you want about the rocket fishing pole, but if you have some pesky fisherman starting to crowd you, they come in real handy for getting rid of them.

If you use the plastic bubble bobbers there is no stop needed. The one I have you run the main line down through the middle of the bobber and tie on a swivel. Add a leader (2 to 3 ') and a fly. I found that I do not need to use any extra water in the bobber when using an ultra light spinning reeel loaded with 4# line and a 7' light action rod. You can cast a country mile with that outfit. I used it for stoked trout this winter and had a ball.
Haven't tried it on blue gill yet.
I really don' see where you need anything but a weighted bobber . You can set the bobber at maybe a foot long er than your rod length and still manage to cast it.

A fly or small jig below a bubble is a great technique to have in your arsenal. I've used it quite a few times successfully for sunfish, trout, and in saltwater too for specks and reds.

that works great for trout used that technigue at broken bow last fall.no one was catching anything untill me and my buddy started using a bubble float with a leader and fly and we wore the trout out.

Those flies I sent you grandpa were the most effictive when used in this method.

Those clear bobbers are actually called casting bobbers.
Used those to great effect on the sierra trout about 25 years ago and just the other day thought about using them for sandbass when they are chasing small baitfish.