I have been searching my favorite warm lake for several months for some trophy bluegill. Today I finally found some. I was indicator fishing in 14’ of water with size 14 damsel fly nymphs. These fish gave the Epic 580 all it could handle. These fish sure pull hard.

What an odd looking fish.

Nice ones!

Yes, these are Florida strain bluegill. When they get this large they take on a purple color and get this bronze/ copper colored face. I guess thats why their known as “Copper Nose”. Some get large humps on their heads, have large teeth and look kind of prehistoric. They are really fun to catch and are a prize fish for all the local bluegill anglers

I've caught them on Prince flys, and also very small strawberry buggers. 9.5-10" are sometimes caught in ponds.

Here you go a Sacramento perch from lake Crowley

Cool looking fish!

Those are copperhead bluegills native to the SE states,Those deep Cali reservoirs are famous for big sunfish including huge LM bass. A friend on a couple other boards is an expert at fishing So Cal reservoirs and catches these fish regularly but with jigs he ties .Lake Havasu has redears over 5lbs .Introduced species is not always a bad thing.

I went out again and got a few more of the big boys. Used my SFG 6 wt. they had that rod doubled over

Jhuskey, I have only caught smaller gills on sponge spiders, poppers and ants. These larger specimens are usually in 12’ feet of water or deeper near the bottom and can be caught indicator fishing or using a type lll or heavier full sink line. Today when I was kicking in I talked with a group of divers whom stated that were numerous bluegills the size I was catching on nests in 16 feet of water. One women said she estimated there were several hundred fish spawning where they were diving.

Interesting that the Hersh mentioned 5 lb. red ears in Lake Havasu. My uncle lives in Parker which is 1/2 hour from Havasu and has been trying for a giant red ear for several years. So far his personal best was two pounder he caught stripping a black and olive leech. That thing was a pig.

The Hersh, hello yes my uncle has caught some nice smallmouths over the years while fishing Havasu. He also catches some nice ones from the river on buggers and crayfish patterns.

Lake Perris is where I do most of my warm water fly fishing. I live 1/2 hour from the lake. That’s where I caught the big copper nose gills. Perris also has a good population of red ears I think the big shell crackers pull harder than the bluegill. Your right they are hard to fool with flies. When I do hook a nice one I feel fortunate. I prefer indicator fishing to using full sink lines when the fish are deep. I use the 12 foot Rio leaders and then tie a small barrel swivel to the tippet. I can then add several more feet of tippet to reach the fish.
The deep water break away indicators are a must for fishing 10 feet or deeper. I like small olive and black buggers in size 16 and 14 with a tungsten bead so they sink nice and fast. I usually start in 10 feet of water and then keep going deeper until I find the bigger fish. Keeping the flies about 8” to a foot off the bottom works pretty well. I have successfully indicator fished in 16 feet of water but that’s pushing it. I really enjoy watching that little bobber twitching or getting pulled under. I think some people think this type of fishing is not really fly fishing but once one tangles with an 10 or 11” bluegill or red ear they might change their mind. My personal best is a 13” bluegill that pulled so hard I thought I had a big bass on. A state fish biologist told me once Perris is the perfect lake to grow big panfish. It never freezes, even in winter the water never gets really cold, the fish feed all year and there is a very large forage base of food.

George, hello here are the break away indicators and leaders I use.

Those had to be a lot of fun.......Aurelio