Murray 'Gills

[Tailingloop]

Fishing for bigger bluegills has been decent at Murray lately. A few on topwater but mostly on weighted flies, generally cast into deeper water. For reference, distance between end cap on butt end of reel seat and the front edge of the grip is 11". Rod is a 3wt 7 footer fiberglass custom built for me years ago by the late Bill Stroud on a Lamiglass blank.

Nice Bluegill

Another colorful fish

[Neuroshima]

Good to see you posting on here, Craig.

[galen]

Man those fish are gorgeous.

[Tailingloop]

Yes really colorful. The dark breast area is reddish brown when the fish are first hooked up and as they come in but the the color quickly darkens as I'm setting up the to take the photo. I could get better colors I I was with someone and took the shot just as the fish comes to hand. As a one man show trying to deal with the rod, leader, fish, and camera all at once is an adventure. I caught a couple of smaller fish (7") that maintained the more reddish/orange coloration as I was unhooking them but I didn't photograph those. The larger ones tend to go darker much faster. Of the 15+ that I caught all but four were of the size pictured.

This one shows more of the reddish coloration in the breast (however my framing on the shot was poor)

More Colorful 'gill showing reddish breast

[bendopolo 44+]

I love my 3 Wt. Makes small fish big and big fish huge! I landed an 8 pound Brook Trout on it at Irvine Lake on a Black Woolley Bugger.. That particular Stock also contained Brown Trout to 10 pounds. It took all I had to get that bushy fly out there with that little 7 foot rod. I couldn’t land the Browns I hooked but did pick up a 15 pound Carp that took me several hundred feet down the bank.

[Tailingloop]

I love my 3 Wt. Makes small fish big and big fish huge! I landed an 8 pound Brook Trout on it at Irvine Lake on a Black Woolley Bugger.. That particular Stock also contained Brown Trout to 10 pounds. It took all I had to get that bushy fly out there with that little 7 foot rod. I couldn’t land the Browns Ihooked but did pick up a 15 pound Carp that took me several hundred feet down the bank.

Landing large fish on such light rods requires some skill. Obviously, you demonstrated that you possess some.

[bendopolo 44+]

Believe me, I wasn’t using 6x tippet. I knew there were big fish there and ran hand tied 12-10-8-6 pound leader for a solid turnover of the Woolly Bugger. After that it was glorified handlining. The hard part and it happened on one of the Browns was not stepping on the line during their fury and before I could get the line on the reel. It was the only Fly Rod I had with me.I grew up catching 8-12 pound Bonito on 4 pound Spinning Gear. Patience and keeping your wits together are needed to land those Newport Tuna.