FOREST AND STREAM 
577 
Fly Fishing For Blue Gills 
Blue Gill, alias Roach, alias Blue Sunfish, is 
despised by some and placed in the rock bass 
class by others, mostly on account of his prolific 
numbers and gullibility in swallowing bait in the 
shape of angleworms, grubs or grasshoppers on 
the hooks of small boys and tyro fishermen armed 
with cane pole and bobber, with which he is 
yanked from his native element without respect 
for his genuine fighting abilities, and with no 
thought but for his juiciness and flavor. 
Fly fisherman, go down to the shore of one of 
our inland lakes in May or June, when the insects 
are dropping to the surface. You will notice fish 
breaking water eagerly. Not, perhaps, so 
viciously as brook trout, but coming just to the 
top and sucking them down, leaving circle enough 
to get you to thinking of your fishing outfit. 
If you investigate further you will find that 
these are feeding blue gills, ready to furnish un¬ 
limited sport to those who follow the game in a 
sportsmanlike manner. 
Last spring, toward the middle of May, three 
of my friends from Detroit came out to Windiate 
Park, Michigan, which is located on the Clinton 
River chain of lakes, about an hour’s ride from 
Detroit, on the Grand Trunk Railway. They 
brought fly rods and appurtenances thereto. Hav¬ 
ing had some experience with trout, they were 
proficient in casting the feathered deceivers. 
After greetings and stowing a good dinner under 
our vests, Tom and Mark donned their waders 
and started around the shore of Lotus Lake. 
Chick and myself got into a boat and rowed 
around to Auntoon Lake. We had not gone far 
before seeing signs of breaking fish, and we 
dropped anchor just off a good-sized cove. We 
waited a few minutes for things to get quieted 
down, and soon had them coming on bright col¬ 
ored flies—Silver Doctors, McGinty and Jenny 
Junes. 
It kept me busy watching Chick cast, strike and 
play, as well as placing the net under the fish 
when they had made their last game race. The 
method of taking the blue gill by fly is some¬ 
what different from that followed in trout fish¬ 
ing. You have to go after them with a slow fly. 
They will not, trout like, run and snap a fly, and 
drawn rapidly back on or near the surface. We 
met with the best success by casting out a mod¬ 
erate length of line, letting the fly sink a foot or 
two, and then returning it under water just as 
slowly as possible, then lifting and making an¬ 
other forward cast. 
Once in a while a lively fellow will almost meet 
the fly as it alights on the water, snapping it and 
racing away. But as a rule they strike while you 
are drawing it along under water. 
Sunddenly you will feel a hard, quick chug; and 
you don’t want to think twice about striking. 
Strike quick, and strike hard, and the battle will 
be on. Fastened on this light tackle a good-sized 
blue gill will run, twirl, twist and struggle, equal 
to anything that swims, considering inches and 
ounces. 
True, they do not leap, but one cannot expect 
all of the best qualities combined in one. Some 
of these gamey little fellows ran twice around 
the boat, battling every inch of the way before 
giving in, and every one put up a fine fight. 
We hooked and landed three small bass on this 
occasion; two large mouth and one small mouth. 
These baby bass weighed about one and one- 
quarter pounds each, and we could not see that 
they put up any heavier fight on the same tackle 
than the blue gills. The bass being out of sea¬ 
son, we returned them to the water. 
Chick and I succeeded in picking out twenty- 
two of those big crinkly nose boys. Mark and 
Tom got twenty-six between them, which aver¬ 
aged a little smaller in size than ours, possibly 
on account of their having fished nearer shore. 
We fished in some six or eight feet of water. 
The tackle we used consisted of ordinary six 
The town of Echo, Ore., has been the Mecca of 
anglers since the middle of March. It is estimated 
that during the last sixteen days of the month 
close to 500 land-locked steelheads were taken 
from the Government canal which supplies the 
Cold Springs Reservoir with water. While these 
fish ranged in length from fifteen to twenty-one 
inches, the greater number were about eighteen 
inches and weighed close to two pounds each. 
One disappointing feature of the sport to many 
was the fact that these fish would not rise to a 
fly. In order to catch them the anglers were com¬ 
pelled to resort to the use of all manner of bait. 
The run of these fish in the canal is due to the 
fact that when the ditch was first completed and 
water turned in, five years ago, it was not equip¬ 
ped with a screen. The reservoir was therefore 
or seven ounce trout fly rods, enamelled lines, six 
or nine foot leaders, and one or two flies of 
standard patterns tied on number eight and ten 
hooks; also a small trout landing net. 
In discussing a mess of blue gills at supper 
time, all agreed that this tribe of hard-mouthed 
little warriors was a doughty one indeed, and 
fully deserving as nearly high a pedestal as the 
knightly brook trout whose song has been sung 
so long and loud, as in fighting qualities, even so 
after having been rolled in meal and browned to 
a turn in the skillet. 
Ye fishers of trout, lay aside your prejudices 
just once, and take a fly at the blue gills. I’ll 
warrant you will enjoy the sport, and will always 
be dead willing to go after more of it. 
filled with fish as well as water, and among the 
fish was a large number of young steelheads on 
their first pilgrimage to the sea. Not being able 
to escape from the reservoir they grew to matu¬ 
rity there and when the reservoir was filled this 
spring the mature fish immediately began ascend¬ 
ing the canal. 
AUDUBON SOCIETY FIGHTS AMENDMENT. 
Officers of the National Association of Audu¬ 
bon Societies started a nation wide protest 
against the amendment proposed to the Agri¬ 
cultural Appropriation bill by Senator Robinson, 
of Arkansas, which would cut off the $100,000 
appropriation for the enforcement of the Mc¬ 
Lean bird protection law. 
