03/02/24 Member Led Fly Tying Session

Bluegill flies

Next Saturday, 2 March, I will lead our fly-tying session at the clubhouse. Start time is 10:00 a.m. We will be tying these three simple flies that I have used to catch countless numbers of bluegills in recent years in our eastern Shore millponds. Each fly is tied on a size 6 Mustad 3366 hook.

The first fly is actually a shad fly and is appropriately called a shad dart.  In fact, I have caught hickory shad with it in addition to bluegills.  White perch also hit it.  The tail is calf tail, the body is crystal flash or any shiny strands of material I find on my bench.  The eyes are bead chain and the head is chenille.  The second fly is a bead-head crystal bugger with a flashy Baitfish Emulator tail.  In addition to bluegills, I have caught shad with it.  The third fly is a topwater foam spider.  The body is precut foam.  The legs are rubber strands. 

I use a heavy flat wax thread for most of my tying.  That’s not critical for the first two flies but the second fly requires you to apply considerable pressure to the foam body when cinching it down on the hook.

I will bring the necessary materials to the session.  But if you have any of your own, please bring them in case I run short.

Since they are such easy flies to tie, my hope is for everyone to leave with two of each kind – or enough to catch well over 100 eager bluegills this spring! 

I’ll see you Saturday. 

–Mark Bange